Wonderstruck
by XxXBeautifulXxXDreamerXxX
Summary: Adalyn Deveroux has always had to deal with people staring at her because she was beautiful. She'd kept the secret of being Veela from everyone, except a persistent Sev Potter, until the train ride before her seventh year. Now she's got boys throwing themselves at her, friends for the first time, and someone who makes her heart pound. Things could be worse...right?
1. Chapter 1

**I love writing Next Generation fics, it's one of my favorite things to write. I've done a couple other Albus stories, but I changed his name in this one. Sev is Albus Severus, I just wanted to change things around. I just wanted to make that clear. **

**There are links on my profile to the characters and Adalyn's outfits.**

**I own nothing that looks familiar.**

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I could feel the eyes on me even though they were trying to be discreet. Well, some of them were but others not so much. You'd think I'd be used to the stares by now, I've gotten them since I was eleven and went through puberty. Now at age eighteen, the stares got bolder, the eyes would linger on the curve of my chest or the flare of my hips. I was prey to the rabid animals. I had no privacy because of all of their prying eyes taking note of every detail that was me.

Before you think it, I'm not conceited or vain about my looks. I'm Veela, or at least 25% anyway. My mother is 50% and my grandmother is 100%, does that make sense? The other half of my bloodline came from my father who is a wizard. So I inherited my mother's beauty and charm, according to her and my Gram at least, and inherited my father's magic.

My one saving grace was that I didn't look like the cliché Veela was supposed to look. I had brown hair and brown eyes with an olive complexion. When people think Veela, they think fair skin with blonde hair and blue eyes. That's what my mother looked like, but I got my father's coloring and couldn't be happier about it.

With that being said, there's a string that connects my mother's looks to mine. No one knows that string is our Veela blood and I wanted to keep it that way. The last thing in the world I wanted was for everyone to know that I was part Veela.

Most of the kids at Hogwarts stayed true to the "thinking all Veela had to be fair-colored" thing so they never suspected me. They just thought I was unfairly beautiful. Everyone, that is, except for Sev Potter who was too damn smart for his own good and not even sorted into Ravenclaw.

Our friendship didn't make a lot of sense to other people, what with him being the Seeker and Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and me having no interest in sports. I think that was what made us work, I wasn't using him for his popularity. With the last name Potter, I felt like that was a rarity.

The day he figured out my secret we were in fifth year, studying for our OWLs together in the library. We were reading about the different types of magical creatures that would be on the exam when he looked up from his book so quickly that his glasses slipped down his nose. I could see the sudden realization behind his eyes, he and I have been study-buddies for a long time so that was an easily recognizable look.

"Merlin's beard, you're Veela!" he whispered excitedly, pushing his glasses back up with the back of his hand. "I can't believe I've never noticed it before! It makes so much sense."

"Will you be quiet?! The point of keeping it a secret was for no one to know about it," I hissed at him, slapping my hand over his mouth even though he whispered. "Yes, I'm a quarter Veela. I swear to Merlin if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll be forced to recreate the unfortunate _accident_ from third year Defense against the Dark Arts…"

"You mean when you caught Pollux Cast's robes on fire? Everyone said you misaimed your wand!" Sev exclaimed after I moved my hand away from his mouth. "Did you do that on purpose?!"

I just shrugged and pushed my hair off of my shoulder. "It wasn't anything that can be done with a wand. Cast was being a vulgar twat that deserved worse than what he got. My arse is none of his concern, he doesn't need to touch it or talk about how 'fit' it is to his friends."

Sev's face turned red and his fist clenched on the table, but he didn't say anything. Something changed between us that day in the library and we became really close. I wasn't his best friend, that was Scorpius Malfoy, but I was a very close second. I didn't have another best friend or any other friends really. That sounds really sad, an eighteen year old girl with no friends and it really is. It's also lonely, but I deal with it.

The girls that I come in contact with usually think I'm intimidating and don't like me. I try my best to be friendly to the very few who try to include me in their circles, but I can't handle their shallow conversation. I'm not saying that I need a philosophical debate for every conversation, I just needed something with more depth than curling charms and never-chip nail polish. It was like they wanted me in their group because I was pretty and nothing else, like that was the only character trait that I possessed.

"You're looking particularly Veela today, Lyn," Sev said, tossing his arm around my shoulders and drawing me out of my memories. "You're sitting with my friends and me this year, there's no discussion."

It wasn't like I'd never met his friends, I just hated the way they all looked at me. I was so used to Sev and him treating me like a normal person that it was a slap in the face to be treated differently. Scorpius, bless his heart, tried his best to respect me, but his eyes occasionally wandered when I had to get something off of a high shelf in Potions. Lorcan Scamander was the quietest kid I've ever met; I don't think I've ever even heard him speak in class much less when he was around me. Harrison Butler was the exact opposite, he always voiced how gorgeous he thought I was and how well he'd treat me if we were together. I don't know if I hated Lorcan's awkward silence or Harrison's rude banter more. That's a lie, I hated Harrison's banter because it made me feel like I was an object that he could have instead of a person.

Sev also had girl friends: two of them were his cousins and the other was his big brother's girlfriend. I'd never really been around them separately, they always traveled together. I noticed that with a lot of girls, it was like they had to travel in packs or something.

"I don't fancy dealing with their wandering eyes, Potter. I'm not a bloody zoo exhibit," I detested, shrugging his arm off of me. "I want to be somewhere that I can actually feel like a normal person instead of a blooding flamingo!"

"What if I make all of them swear to be on their best behavior? If they still make you feel weird, the two of us will go to another car together," he pleaded. When he sensed my uneasiness, he turned to begging with his bottom lip jutted out, "Please try it this one time! Please, for me!"

"Oi, if I say yes does that mean you'll never do that lip thing again?" I asked, trying to not laugh. "You are completely ridiculous, Potter!"

Let me tell you something about Sev that I've neglected to mention previously. He was insanely attractive, probably the hottest bloke at school. He had black hair and glasses with a smile that could make your heart stop beating before stuttering back to life. His eyes were so fiercely green that they glimmered sometimes behind his glasses. He didn't care in the slightest about his looks, he just wanted to be treated like a normal person. Put that in the column for reasons our friendship worked.

He pumped his fist in the air victoriously before taking my hand and pulling me onto the train. Laughter bubbled up inside of me and trailed behind us as we ran to the train like excited first years. Sev's excitement as contagious, I felt my cheeks aching from the big smile etched onto my lips. I'd always wanted friends and Sev was trying his best to make that happen.

"Wait out here for a second," he told me, stopping outside his usual compartment. "I'll come back out and get you."

I nodded and leaned back against the wall, stretching my legs out and leaning my head back. I was listening to the mumbled shrieks from outside and the quieter chatter in the car beside me. I heard someone clear their throat and jumped in surprise. I had been so relaxed and zoned on that I didn't even hear the person walk up.

"I didn't mean to scare you!" he exclaimed, picking up his bag from the floor. "I just wanted to get past."

I'd seen the guy around school before, but I didn't know his name. I remembered seeing him at the Hufflepuff table during dinner and on a broom during one of Sev's Quidditch matches that he forced me to go to. The guy had messy brown hair with scruff along his jaw and really nice blue eyes. I should've paid more attention to him before, he was really cute.

"It's fine, I was just spaced out. I didn't even know I was blocking the aisle," I said, standing up straight and moving my feet out of the aisle. "I'm Adalyn, by the way."

"Trust me, I know who you are," he told me quickly. Then he realized what he said and his face turned red as he started to backtrack. "That sounded really creepy. Wow, I'm finally talking got the bollocks to talk to you and I muck it up tremendously. Brilliant!"

My body went rigid when he finished talking, I should've know he would be another one of those people who was _entranced _by me or whatever colorful word they used. I was just another piece of ass for him to look at and use for his own personal pleasure when he was on his own later. No guy wanted to get to know me for me, they just wanted to know the "fittest girl at Hogwarts" and get a chance to shag her.

"I made them swear to be on their best behavior, Lyn," Sev announced, coming out of his car and standing with me and the Hufflepuff. "Did you make a new friend or is he another one of your devoted followers?"

"Friend! I'm her friend, or at least I almost was until I screwed it up royally," Hufflepuff said, finding his voice all of a sudden. "I'm Ryan, and I suck at making first impressions."

"So I noticed," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest and putting up my walls to block him out. "I'm sorry I was in your way, I'll be more careful next time."

I tossed my hair over my shoulder before walking into the car. Karma worked really fast when it came to me; I'd been rude to Ryan only for Sev's friends to stare at me like I was a debacle or something the moment Sev shut the door behind us. I had a lot of walls up when it came to people because I'd had bad past experiences, but I'm not going to get into that right now.

I waved awkwardly at all of them. "Hi."

I knew all of his friends, I'd mentioned them earlier. I'd already talked about the guys, but the girls were Rose and Roxy Weasley, Alice Longbottom, and… Arden Hwang? Arden was Sev's ex-girlfriend. She was the last person that I excepted to see here. She smiled at me calculatingly and patted the spot beside of her on the seat. Despite the twist in my stomach, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and sat down between her and Roxy.

Sev sat down with Harrison and Scorpius on the bench across from us while Rose and Alice sat on the floor between our benches. Rose had her hair held up with a couple of pencils while she read the book on her lap and Alice was flicking bits of paper at Scorpius who caught them on fire with his wand after the awkward silence finally went away.

"How are you, Adalyn? I don't think the two of us have met before," Arden said, smiling invitingly at me and reminding me of a snake.

She knew that I knew damn well who she was, she was playing with me. She and Sev had been together for a couple of months when he and I started to hang out. I had no idea they'd broken up until Sev told me a couple of weeks later. I'd heard in passing that she blamed me, saying that I weaseled him away from her. Her cold smiles proved that she thought that.

She tried to get back at me by hexing off all my hair. A little known fact: Veela blood deflected hexes that were cast at it so the hex backfired and hit her instead. She was bald until sixth year when her hair finally started growing back a normal color. It tried to grow back a few times before, but it was always green. I liked to think it was jealousy turning it that color, but that was just me.

If she wanted to play, I would play even better. "I'm great! I love you hair, it looks so much better like this than how you wore it last year!"

There was a thick silence in the car after I said that, but I refused to take it back. She expected me to be meek because she had _allowed_ me to sit in here with her and her _friends_, but she underestimated my personality. If I felt threatened, I fought back. Veela were very malicious creatures, usually I could hold it back but not this time. She had no idea what she was doing or who she was messing with, but if she kept playing with fire she sure as hell would get burned.

"She's right, Arden," Roxy said, bumping my shoulder with hers. "Your hair looks better long."

"Your short hair wasn't very flattering," Rose agreed not even looking away from the book on her lap. "Don't be rude to Adalyn because Albus prefers her company to yours. Most of us do and we've just met her, you seem to think that we're still you're friends even though we weren't before the break up and most definitely aren't now."

I had never been around Rose before right now, but I felt like she and I could be friends. She seemed to be very blunt and I really liked that. Honesty was one of the qualities that I valued over everything else. The car was quiet again before Arden huffed and stood up, glaring daggers at me.

"They only defend you because you're Veela and they have to like you," she spat before leaving the car and slamming the door behind her.

Ice flooded my veins and I felt my eyes start to burn. I couldn't believe that she knew I was Veela and just outed me like that. I stood up quickly and muttered some sort of apology before I ran out of the car.

I tore open one of the bathroom doors and shut it harshly behind me. My breath started to quicken and I gripped the edges of the sink to try and calm myself down. I couldn't catch my breath no matter how hard I tried, it just kept getting faster.

She was going to tell everyone that I was Veela. I was going to be the center of attention even more than I already was. Hysterical tears were coursing down my cheeks as I slid to the floor and held my knees; once everyone knew, it was going to change my entire life.

When you were Veela, others in the bloodline came out of the woodwork to be with you. In tradition Veela were only supposed to marry their own kind and a lot of families still thought like that. Being Veela also made a lot of boys think I was easy or kinkier than other girls, which was off by a wide margin because I'm a virgin. The only boy I ever kissed broke my heart, but I didn't want to get into that right now.

There was also the fear that she'd mentioned: people only liking me because I was Veela. A lot of them thought that if you hung out with Veela some of their beauty would transfer over to them. I would never have any genuine friends in the future. People would say they wanted to be my friend when they were really only using me for my blood.

There was a knock on the door and Sev's quiet voice, "Hey, are you okay? I'm sorry Arden did that, she's such a bitch and she won't leave me alone. I'm not even that hot, she just likes my name."

"I'm okay," I said, my voice breaking and revealing how sad I really was. I couldn't even laugh at his lame joke.

"_Alohomora_," he whispered and then the door pushed open. "Scoot over and let me in."

I couldn't make any more space in the bathroom so he just slipped inside and pulled his legs up like mine with his arms draped over them. The bathroom was very much made for one person so we were very close to each other. I hadn't expected him to come after me, I just figured I could have time to myself. I wasn't used to people chasing after me.

"The point of running away is to be alone, you know?" I asked, wiping my face with the sleeve of my sweater. "I wanted to be by myself in the first place, but you just can't seem to get that hint, can you, Potter?"

Instead of getting upset and leaving, he handed me some tissue from the role beside the toilet. "You know that's not my style, Deveroux. You're my best friend, I can't let you be upset by yourself. I have to annoy the hell out of you until you smile again."

"She's going to tell everyone my secret. My life is over," I said, pushing my face against my knees so he couldn't see me crying. "Everyone's going to try and use me for my blood and what it can do for them."

"Don't flatter yourself, kid," he said, moving his body so he could wrap his arm around me. "I'm your friend now and I will be later. It's kind of my fault anyway, Arden's mad at me for breaking up with her because I met you."

He said it so nonchalantly I almost didn't get the implications of his words. I just leaned my head against his shoulder and let his calmness spread into me.

The longer we sat there, the more I thought about what he said to me. He actually did break up with her because he met me? I'd told myself for years that that wasn't the case, but I was a liar.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, looking up at him but not moving out of his embrace. "You actually broke up with her because you met me?"

"It's not what you're thinking, I swear," he told me. "I broke up with her because you made me realize that she didn't make me feel at all. You make me happy in a way that she never did."

I couldn't help but feel that there was something else to it, but I just let it slide for now.

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**I wanted to play around with Veela and what they are. I hope you guys like my adaptation of them :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I got a few followers on this story and I appreciate it a lot! Thanks so much for being interested in the story, I'm trying my best to make it different than anything I've read before. **

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I was a ball of nerves the entire rest of the way to Hogwarts. I'd ripped the zipper off my skirt and singed the sleeve of my robe in my haste to get ready. Sev mended them easily and held my shaky hands in his, rubbing his calmness into them. By the time we got into the thestral-drawn carriages, it was easier to breathe and I didn't have the urge to vomit.

Sev kept my hand in his the entire carriage ride, making his friends glance over at us a few times. I'd swallowed my anxiety enough to be comfortable-ish riding with them to the castle. Mostly I did it because I wanted Sev to be happy, I owed him that much for dealing with my dramatics on the train.

"I still want to be your friend and it's not because you're Veela," Roxy said suddenly, making the carriage fall silent. "I think it's ridiculous that Arden's so jealous of you that she had to tell your secret. We all hate her, everyone in the bloody castle does because she's so mean. We all like you and want to be part of your life, Adalyn."

I managed a small smile her way, trying my best to be positive. I didn't want to tell her that it was my Veela blood that was making her be nice to me. It was beyond nice that she was trying to still be my friend, I should probably give her a chance; I was tired of being alone.

"I've never really had friends before. I was too afraid of them finding out about the Veela blood and taking advantage of it," I told her, figuring complete honesty was the best policy.

"We don't care if you've got goblin blood, we don't discriminate based on families," Scorpius said. "That's how I became part of this. I come from a strong line on death eaters for Merlin's sake! You're so much easier to forgive, Adalyn."

That made me giggle and actually smile for real. "I'm glad, just don't be scared off when we get to Hogwarts. Something tells me Arden has already told all of seventh year and is working her way through sixth."

"It's okay, you're not alone this year," Alice said, squeezing my hand and looking at me with her big eyes. "I'm in Gryffindor, but we shared ancient runes together."

Warmth filled my stomach and made my smile bigger than before. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate you all being so nice to me."

The carriage stopped and I felt my stomach drop to my knees. Sev pushed open the carriage door and jumped out before offering me his hand. He laced our fingers together and held it all the way into the castle and to our table. I could feel the eyes on me, but I could've been imagining it.

"Is it true, Adalyn? Are you really 100% Veela?" Hadley Taylor asked from a little way down the table from us. "Arden said that you were, but we all know how truthful she is most of the time."

Shit, the storm was about to start raging.

"No, I'm only 25%," I replied, taking Sev's hand back in both of mine under the table.

I had been hungry before she spoke, but that was completely gone now. I actually wanted to be sick form the nerves bubbling there. I looked down at my lap, focusing on the watch that sat on Sev's wrist; I'd never noticed that he wore one before. It was a muggle one and it made me smile, he was always surprising me.

"So you are Veela? That explains why you're so hot," a guy at the table said, leering at me. "I always figured it wasn't just fate that your ass was so round and your tits were so big."

I didn't get a chance to reply before I heard Sev start talking. His voice was a little above a whisper, but I recognized the bat-bogey hex that I'd read about in boxes as a younger witch. He used his free hand to move his wand under the table and direct the hex at him. Bats exploded out of his nose and flew around everyone, making various disgusted noises ring from the Slytherin table. The guy jumped up and ran out of the Great Hall with his hands clamped over his nose to keep the bats inside.

"Thanks," I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"Hey, can I slide in here? The Gryffindor table's a bit too full for my liking tonight," Alice said from behind me. The she turned to the girl on my left side, "Do you mind if I squeeze in right here?"

The girl slid to the side so Alice could sit beside me. I saw Rose, Lorcan, and Roxy making their way over to sit across from us with Scorpius and Harrison. Tears pricked my eyes at their actions –other than Sev, I'd never had someone care about my welling being before that wasn't my family.

Dinner was a lot easier with them sitting with us. Conversation never lulled, it started with Rose heckling Sev and Scorpius about Quidditch and how they were going to lose. Sev didn't miss a beat when he told them they had no chance now that his brother had left and he was right. The Potter boys were beyond talented when it came to the sport, almost inhumanly so…

We all went to our respective common rooms after Professor McGonagall dismissed dinner. Alice, Rose, and Roxy all hugged me before waving and leaving us alone. Scorpius, Sev, Harrison, and I followed the long line of people dressed in green and silver down to the dungeons and our common room.

My first year I was so scared when I learned that was where I'd be living. I had an intense fear of the dark as a young kid, almost petrifying honestly. After a few weeks I learned that it wasn't that bad, it was actually comforting. I could hide in the shadows and act like no one was looking at me like an albino tiger or something.

Unfortunately, I knew there would be no hiding in the shadows for me anymore. Now that Arden had let the cat out of the bag, I would have to face it head on. I couldn't let that ruin my last year at Hogwarts, especially considering this might be the first year that I actually had friends.

"So, dinner could've been worse," Scorpius said after we'd all discarded our robes and gotten comfortable. "Only a couple of people stared at you like a zoo exhibit. I'd put that in the win column."

I laughed and rolled my eyes, he was so sarcastic all the time. I really appreciated his sense of humor –it was dry and witty. I'd never been around someone who was a clever as he was, he had a .5 second reaction time when someone said something and his main target was Harrison most of the time.

"So you've taken _advanced _runes this semester?" he asked, tugging his tie loose and draping his arm over the couch behind my shoulders. "You scarcely passed third year runes last year. How do you except to do well in the advanced version?"

"He does make a valid point," Sev replied from his spot leaning against the front of my chair. "How do you expect to pass?"

"I'm pretty good with runes, I'm in that class with you. I could help if you want," I replied, looking up from Sev's hair that my fingers were currently twisting. "But only if you stop _accidently_ brushing my bum when you walk by or talking about how fit I am. I'm a human being and I deserve your respect, I've also recently learned a pretty nasty hex from Sev…"

Harrison raised his brows but didn't say anything. I focused back on Sev's hair and the way it felt twisting around my fingers. I'd started out scratching his scalp absentmindedly, but it soon turned into me playing with it. I couldn't help myself, it was so silky and just slipped through my fingers. I'd expected them to get tangled in it because it was so curly and untamed, but I'd been pleasantly surprised.

There was a group of first years grouped together near the fireplace. They were all boys and staring at me like I was a centerfold or something. I even saw one mime a disgusting gesture that had me flying over at them before I could stop myself, pushing Sev forward in my haste. It was like my entire body wasn't in my control, but I didn't fight it too hard.

"If you've got something to say about me, say it to my face. If you're man enough to think about having sex with me you can tell me about it," I said, placing my hands on my hips and staring down my nose at them.

The leader tried to stutter out words, but he couldn't make his tongue work. I'm sure my Veela eyes were flashing as I stared at them because I could feel my hands burning. I wasn't going to hurt them, I just wanted to scare the shit out of them.

"The next time you think about objectifying a female, remember that I'm Veela and I can burn you alive," I said, my voice low and deadly. "Do you understand me?"

They nodded and scurried off with their heads down. I turned back around and walked over to the chair, feeling all the guys' eyes on me. I didn't know what to say, I hadn't even realized what I was doing until it was over. The moment I sat down, I felt all my energy drain out of me and my head started to pound.

"What the hell was that? They're eleven and messing around," Harrison said, watching the boys run to their beds and hide. "That's was way overboard for them talking about you; people talk about you like that all the time."

"I don't know what it was, I've never lost control of my temper like that. I get pissed but just ignore it," I said, rubbing my temples gingerly. "I don't even remember deciding to get up and go over there until I was on my way back."

"I bet it's a Veela thing," Scorpius said, grabbing his bag off the floor and rifling through it. He came out with his copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them_ and flipped to the page on Veela. "It says right here that sometimes when you're anger runs too high you turn into an actual harpy. I think that's only if you're 100% though, you just get really angry and your hands turn red. Your eyes were also completely black when you turned around, which was cool and terrifying at the same time."

"It's like the one time in third year potions," Harrison said, snapping his fingers. "When you're _wand _misfired and you caught that kid's robes on fire. I bet you did that with your hands, didn't you?"

I shook my head and pulled my knees up into the chair with me. I had a tendency to fold myself up into a ball whenever I felt an intense emotion. It was a defense mechanism I developed fourth year when someone took my dark corner of the common room. It hide my face and if I couldn't seem them, it felt like they couldn't see me –even if I knew that logic was seriously flawed.

"Don't hide, we're not yelling at you. We just want to help you figure this out," Sev said, turning around and standing up on his knees.

He took my hands in his and pulled them away from my face before placing my feet back on the floor. I felt heat flood my body when his hand brushed the bare skin between my sock and my skirt. Sev was so close to me that I could see the sprinkle of freckles along the bridge of his nose and the flecks of gold in his eyes.

"You've got freckles, did you know that?" I breathed, ghosting my finger over them.

He laughed before he reached up and brushed my fringe out of my face. "You've got them too, along your cheekbones."

Oh no, I recognized that look in his eyes. He was looking at me like all the other guys do. I backed away from him and looked everywhere but his intense gaze. That was the worst thing that could have ever happened –I was just another Veela girl to him.

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**Thanks so much for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, thanks for staying with this story. A lot of stuff has recently happened in my life and writing has take a backseat. I do it as often as I can, but it's not going to be very constant. **

**With that being said, I hope you guys are understanding about it. There's a choice: I can either keep updating sporadically or stop this story until I have time to write it on a schedule, but I can't promise that'll be any time soon. So leave your answers in the reviews and I'll tally up the score.**

**Adalyn's uniform can be found on the link that's on my profile marked "clothes."**

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As soon as I realized what happened, I made up some excuse to get out of the situation. I ignored all their questioning glances and left the room. I had a tendency to venture around the castle when something was bothering me so that's what I did. The last thing I expected was to run into Rose and Roxy Weasley during their rounds.

"Adalyn? Why are you out after curfew?" Roxy asked, hurrying over to me. "Is something wrong?"

"No…Yes," I said miserably. "I don't want to tell you, I'll sound like a selfish bitch."

She just rolled her eyes before linking her arm with mine. "We're friends now, Lenny. That means you're bullshit is our bullshit. Isn't that right, Rosie?"

Rose nodded and linked her arm with my other one. "Let's go back to the common room and get Alice. We'll have a girls' night before classes."

"You guys don't have to do that. I'm not even in Gryffindor," I said, chewing on my lip and looking at my feet. "Won't you get in trouble?"

Rose shook her head and smiled at me. "I'm Head Girl, I have my own room. I share with Harold Gilbert, but I'm sure he's already asleep by now. It'll be fine, I swear."

I followed them to their common room but waited outside for Rose to come back with Alice. I felt almost _treacherous_ to go into another house's common room, like I was betraying my own house. I'm sure that was stupid, but a lot of the things I thought were stupid. I was just a stupid person most of the time.

Once we were inside Rose's bedroom, they all looked at me expectantly. "I feel terrible for telling you all this, you were all Sev's friends first and it's about him."

"As long as you're not talking badly about him he doesn't have to know," Roxy answered honestly, shrugging her shoulders.

"She's right, and we all know you're not going to talk badly about him. He's too perfect," Alice said, giggling into her palm with flushed cheeks.

"Whoa, which Potter do you fancy, Ali?" Rose asked, hitting her with a pillow playfully. "James might get a letter saying he'd better keep tabs on his girlfriend, she's interested in his younger brother!"

They all worked so well together, I wish I could work like that. I was messing up their flow by being here, I shouldn't have come with them. I should have gone up to my bed, drawn the curtains, and fell asleep instead of venturing into the halls.

"Whatever, I want to know what's wrong with Adalyn," Alice said, trying to get the focus of the conversation off of her minor crush on Sev. "What's up?"

"I don't want a boy to fancy me because I'm Veela," I replied, bridging my fingers and twisting them together as I spoke. "I'm sure you all know that I just want people to like me for me instead of what I can do for them."

"Okay?" Roxy said, drawing the word out. "What's the problem?"

"Sev never looked at me like I was Veela before. He always treated me like I was a normal girl and looked at me like he looked at everyone else," I said, figuring I'd tell them everything as a gesture of good faith. "I was talking to him earlier and I saw the look, I get it whenever any guy gets too close to me."

"It's the Veela glamour," Rose said, sounding like a textbook. "Within a few centimeters of a Veela, no matter how little blood, boys react with deep infatuation."

"You and Scorpius really know about Veela," I replied dismissively. "He was telling me about my explosive anger earlier just like you, except he had to use a book."

"That's why I'm a head and he's not," she said quickly. "What about Sev changed? He's apparently always know you were Veela, why does it matter now?"

"Yeah, I don't get that either," Roxy agreed.

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. "I don't even know how to put it into words. He's always the person that sees me as a regular person instead of Veela. He tells me the truth even when it's hard and doesn't look at me like I'm just tits and an ass he's picturing withering on his sheets under him."

"Ew, too much information!" Rose shrieked, covering her ears and making Roxy nod in agreement.

"I'm sorry, that's just what it's like for me. I yelled at a group of first years earlier for making a crude gesture at me and had a temper flare," I explained. "I'm so tired of being objectified by males!"

"And there, Miss Deveroux, lies your problem. You felt like Sev was objectifying you because he was caught in your glamour," Rose explained medically.

"That makes sense! Sev was just a friend until he saw how pretty you were," Alice agreed. "Rose, you're a bloody genius!"

I thought about what Rose said and realized she was right. My anger had already been triggered and was still simmering when Sev looked at me. I forgot about my glamour; Sev had never been that close to me before. It was natural for him to be drawn to me, it was only a matter of time before he was drawn in just like the others.

"Thank you for listening to my insane ramblings," I said, rubbing my face. "I'll leave now and let you have your girls' night."

"You're invited, duh!" Alice exclaimed, grabbing my hands when I tried to pull on my shoes. "You're one of the girls, Adalyn."

"This is what friends do. How many times do we have to say that before it sinks in?" Roxy asked, moving to stand in front of me. "You're going to stay here and gossip about everything."

It took a while for me to feel comfortable around the girls and their antics. Once I hit my groove, I started to participate in their conversations and start my own. It was really late by the time we all fell asleep on Rose's bed. She charmed it larger so we could all fit in it comfortably before our eyes got too heavy to hold open.

I woke up early enough to go back to my common room and get dressed. It was the first day of classes and the first time I had to actually interact with people after my secret was told. That meant I had to get a hold on my temper, I couldn't have an outburst like last night again. It also meant I had to actually talk to Sev after my embarrassing departure.

My first class was charms with the Hufflepuffs. I was too late for breakfast so I had to make do with the granola bar I had in my backpack. I was munching on it when I walked into class, sitting in an empty desk. There were only a couple kids in the class so I leaned back in my chair with my eyes closed, trying to get a few more minutes of sleep before class started.

"Is this seat free?" a familiar voice asked, a nervous edge to it.

Ryan, the guy from the train yesterday, was standing near the desk next to mine. I glanced around the room and all the other free desks. Why did he need to sit in that one? I was a bitch to him yesterday, didn't he get the hint? I wasn't looking for a relationship, especially with someone who only wanted to talk to me because I was aesthetically pleasing.

"Yes. I don't own any of them," I replied, sitting up rigidly and rubbing my fingers up the feather of my quill in agitation –I completely forgot about his existence.

"I'm sorry about yesterday! I didn't mean to make you think I only wanted to talk to you because you're attractive," he said quickly, sitting in the desk beside mine. "I do think you are, but I want to know your personality. I want to be your friend, I've had a crush on you for years and want to know if you're worthy of all the adoration people place on you."

His response left me speechless. It hadn't even crossed my mind that he would want to know my worthiness of his affections. I just figured he thought of me as a piece of ass and nothing more, but I was pleasantly surprised. Guilt filled me, I shouldn't have been so mean to him.

"I'm sorry for being so hard on you yesterday. I'm not used to people wanting my personality," I told him, grinning wryly at him. "I'm Adalyn."

"Yeah, I know who you are," he said, not getting what I was hinting at. Then realization colored his face, "Oh! You're trying to start over! I get it now! I'm Ryan, it's nice to meet you."

"I've seen you around before, but we've never talked. Why did you decided to change that this year?" I asked, turning my body to make conversation.

His cheeks turned pink and he looked down at the desk. "Oh, uhm, I was too nervous to ever speak to you. My mates dared me to finally do it or they'd tell everyone I wet the bed until I was twelve. Oh Merlin, I didn't mean to say that out loud! God, please just ignore my pathetic existence and leave me here to die!"

I laughed before I could stop myself. "That's so embarrassing! I understand why you're talking to me now, I suppose."

His face was still red, but he looked up at me hopefully. "I'm glad you think so, I was afraid you'd think I was a total loser. This is going a lot better than I thought it would."

We talked with each other until Professor Richmond came in and called the class to attention. I felt occasional eyes on me through the class but nothing too crazy. Maybe my life wouldn't change that much, maybe everyone just through Arden was spouting off nonsense.

The next class was potions with Sev, Scorpius, and Harrison. I saw the group of them sitting at a table with an empty chair between Scorp and Sev. I took a calming breath before entering the classroom and moving over to their table. The sooner I spoke to them the sooner I could get the awkward situation over with.

"Hey," I smiled, trying to act like things were normal. "How've your classes been so far?"

I could feel Sev's eyes on me, I recognized the familiar heat that it caused in my body. I hadn't realized before that it felt different when he looked at me, but it was more than obvious now. Scorp and Harrison were both looking at me too and there was no heat. Hmm, I should probably look into that later…

"My day's been pretty easy so far, I can't complain," Scorpius said, leaning back coolly in his chair with his body stretched out. "I'm pretty amped for this class; potions is my favorite."

"Yeah, because you're unfairly good at it. I'm convinced you're cheating," Harrison complained, flopping his head down onto the desk dramatically. "Sev is, too. I can't believe I'm so rubbish at every class."

"That's not true! You're pretty brilliant at Divinations," I said, smiling at him reassuringly. "You've got a gift for seeing things that others don't."

"Attention class, we're not going to ease into this. You've taken potions for seven years, you're going to start with an assignment. If you're good at it, you're going to pass and if you're not you're going to fail. This will show if you need to drop and take a replacement," Professor Galton said, announcing her presence to us all. "Pick your partners wisely, they could be life or death and there is no switching."

"Scorp, man, please be my partner! I'll fail if you don't," Harrison begged, clasping his hands together and putting on a show.

"If I say yes, will you leave me alone about it and let me do all the work so you don't mess it up?" he asked, his annoyance bleeding out. "I can't have your _intelligence_ bringing down my marks. I want to get into the healers' academy."

"I guess that leave us, if you're still my friend…" Sev said from behind me.

"I'm sorry for last night, I made things weird and I didn't mean to," I said quickly after I turned around. "I was overwhelmed by everything and didn't know how to process."

"It's cool, I get it. Just don't run away from me again," he said, twisting one of my curls around his finger and letting it spring back. "We're supposed to talk stuff out, remember?"

"I want you to brew amortentia. You should have successfully brewed it last year so this is just a review. If you can't do it successfully, you really need to think about a different level class," Professor Galton said.

I was also really talented when it came to potions and so was Sev so this was going to be simple. We could probably be finished early if we got started. Amortentia wasn't as complicated to make as everyone made it out to be; there were far more difficult potions in our book.

"I'll gather ingredients if you light the cauldron," I said, instantly falling into serious mode. He grabbed my hand and stopped me from heading to the supply closet. His eyebrows were raise and I knew he wanted an answer. "Yes, I know I have to tell you the truth. It's just weird, I've never had to worry about other people's feelings before. I'm leaning, okay?"

His eyes lit playfully and he squeezed my hand. "That's good, I like you when you're fighting."

I just nodded and scurried away, hating the way he made me feel helpless. I've never had to worry about what guys were thinking about me, I always knew. Enter Sev Potter and that's thrown out the window. I would give anything to know what was going through that boy's mind.

Like I figured, the potion was easy and started boiling. Sev was responsible for the stirring as I added the ingredients as per the instructions. Just like it was supposed to, the potion turned a pretty purple-pink color and bubbled happily.

I knew the purpose of the potion was to make anyone fall in love with you. It was prohibited for students to use it on other students, but some still stuck it into food. I also knew the scent it gave off was different for every person, it was supposedly the smells that you loved the most.

I always smelled my Gram's cinnamon snap cookies, fresh ink, and warm honey. I expected that when I brewed the potion this time, but there was something extra dashed in. It was familiar, earthy and warm, it almost reminded me of the library but not exactly.

A thought made my blood run cold. Sometimes amortentia could take the scent of the person you were supposed to be in love with, but only if you'd met them before. The possibility that I'd already met the boy I was going to fall in love with terrified me.

I was 25% Veela after all…

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**Like I mentioned earlier, tell me in the reviews what you want the fate for this story to be. They'll be very much appreciated! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I didn't edit this, I just pumped it out and published it. I apologize for any errors and mistakes, don't judge me too harshly. I've also worked my life out to where I should be able to update at least once a week. Thank you for all of your support, it's really great that you like the story so much!**

**The link to Adalyn's Hogsmeade outfit is on my profile under "clothing."**

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"Okay so this is probably stupid and ridiculous and you probably already have a date but screw it, I'm going to go for it anyway. Will you go with me to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Ryan asked Friday before charms began.

I knew he would ask me out eventually, I just didn't think it would be so soon. He was sweet and adorable, maybe he was the new smell in my Amortentia. I've never been close enough to smell him and find out, but our date would give me a chance. It was also helpful that we weren't close enough for it to be traumatic if I were to lose him if the date didn't work out.

"Sure, that sounds fun," I said, smiling as I tossed my hair over my shoulder flirtatiously.

"Oh okay, I totally get it. I'm sure you've already been asked by a ton of guys and just want to be left alone… Wait –you said yes, didn't you?" he asked, his eyebrows raising in surprise and his cheeks tinting pink. "Merlin, I'm a total moron, but you already said yes and can't go back now."

His shyness was so refreshing; usually the only guys that hit on me were way too cocky. "I think it's cute."

"I can't believe this is real life," he whispered, staring at the front of the room instead of at me. "Jesus, I'm the luckiest bastard at Hogwarts."

I couldn't help myself, "I wouldn't say that just yet. We haven't gone out, it could be a complete disaster."

Why did I say that?! I was afraid of getting close to him too fast and put up my defenses. I didn't want his feelings to get all mixed up in my glamour. I never had to worry about people getting tired of me and leaving after I developed feelings for them before. The thought chilled me to my bones; I didn't want to be alone again.

"I don't know why I said that! It was rude; I'm a bitch," I said, sucking my bottom lip into my mouth and chewing on it nervously. "I understand if you don't want to hang out anymore. I'm still learning how to do this whole friendship thing."

"No, I don't want you to be fake. I want your real personality," he said, actually looking over at me. "I told you already, I'm curious if there's more to this attraction than your bloodline."

"I'm not a science experiment," I replied saucily, crossing my legs and turning my body to the front. "Don't treat me clinically, I'm a person."

"So far I'm impressed," he replied before Professor Richmond entered the room with a swirl of her robes.

I rolled my eyes, but my insides were sparkling at his compliment. I tried my best to pay attention and take my notes, to ignore his gaze. By the time class was over, my parchment was a complete mess. My usually neat script was running all over the paper with incomplete sentences that made no sense whatsoever. Awesome, I hope this wasn't on the exam.

It was a bit easier to pay attention in potions without Ryan's gaze on me. Sev seemed to be uneasy about something, but I couldn't figure it out. Harrison and Scorpius kept glancing at him with entertained grins, but they seemed to be keeping the reason under lock and key. I'd almost convinced myself I was totally crazy when Sev actually spoke to me.

"So this weekend is the first trip to Hogsmeade. Are you going?" he asked, knocking over the row of vials lined up on our table. "Damn, my bad."

Sev was usually so calm and collected, it was odd to see him like this. "What's wrong? You're all jumpy and nervous; it's not like you."

He ran a hand through his unruly mop of hair as his face turned pink. "Oh, yeah. I'm just anxious about this potion, I don't want to mess it up. I need to pass this class to get into the Auror program."

"I am going to Hogsmeade, by the way," I answered, knowing he was lying because he was excellent at potions and already been accepted into the program. "You've already been accepted, you told me at breakfast the other day."

"You're already going? Did Rose, Roxy, and Alice ask you to go with them?" Sev asked, ignoring my jibe at his slipup. "I thought you might want to go with the three of us, get some lunch or something?"

"I'm actually going with Ryan, but we can meet you guys for lunch," I told him before using a cleaning spell to get rid of all the glass from the vials Sev broke. "I would work on your reactions if you're going to be an Auror. You suck at hiding your emotions."

"You're going out with that guy from the train?" he asked, his eyebrows disappearing under his hair in surprise. "I thought he annoyed you because he was fawning over you."

"I don't know what I feel about him yet. He's different than anyone who's ever asked me out, I can't explain it," I shrugged. "I'll let you know as soon as I do how I feel about him."

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It was Saturday before I knew it and I had to get ready for my date. I've been on a handful of them before, but I've never been this nervous. What if I did something and made Ryan think I wasn't worthy of his crush? I've never had a guy _not_ like me, I don't know how I would handle that.

I twisted my last piece of hair around my wand before letting it go and watching it bounce into a curl. I was actually kind of nervous for this, Ryan _was _kind of cute for a Hufflepuff… Not that I thought they were the inferior house or anything, they usually just valued kindness over vanity.

"Every girl from seventh year Gryffindor is outside the common room requesting your presence," Opal, another Slytherin girl, said in annoyance.

I nodded and did a final check of my makeup, grabbed my bag, and slid on my boots before going to meet them. I didn't expect them to come find me today. I'm sure Sev let it slip that I was going to Hogsmeade with Ryan instead of with them –not that they'd asked.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were going on a date?! That's definitely something you tell your friends," Alice screeched.

"Yeah! We had to find out from Harrison," Roxy agreed, crossing her arms over her chest.

I guess it wasn't _Sev_ who let the cat out of the bag. That was something I had to remember when I was sending hexes later.

"Who's Ryan Gregory?" Rose asked, ignoring the others.

"He's a Hufflepuff I met on the train," I told her. "It's complicated, but I think something could actually work out between us."

I should've told them about my date, but I was still learning the rules of friendship. The only experience I've ever had with it was what I saw on muggle TV shows. I was basically in the middle of a crash course and currently burning as I spun out.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, it only happened Wednesday," I said, chewing on my lip and playing with my fingers instead of looking at them.

"We just thought you had a thing for Sev is all…" Roxy mused, looking everywhere but my face.

"What?!" I asked, my stomach plummeting to my feet as my face paled. "That's ridiculous, Sev's just my friend. My best friend, actually."

"You might think that, but I'm pretty sure he thinks differently. You should've seen how down he was after classes today when you turned him down," Alice replied. "It was almost as bad as when the Twisted Sisters broke up."

That stopped me in my tracks, my entire brain shut down and I almost fell. There was no way in hell Sev had genuine feelings for me. He's seen me have way too many meltdowns and burn through too many caldrons to think I was attractive. The girls were just reading too much into the situation…that had to be it.

"Hey, don't you have a date to meet downstairs…_now_?" Rose asked, glancing at the clock on the wall.

I barely knew Rose, but I knew enough to know that she was rarely wrong. The only thing that made me start walking again was the thought that Alice might be wrong. I didn't want a relationship with Sev, I didn't even know if I wanted a relationship with Ryan yet.

With that being said, my heart did flutter a little when I saw him waiting at the castle entrance. I had a single daisy in his hand with a long stem and my heart plummeted. I was _really_ allergic to daises, they made my throat close up and hives break out along my skin.

"The flower was a sweet gesture, but it'll kill me," I said, stopping four feet from him. "I'm really allergic to daisies!"

"Merlin, I'm so sorry! Give me just a second," he said, tossing the flower into the bin and doing a quick cleansing spell on himself. "I think I'm good now, I hope so anyway…"

A sheepish smile wormed its way onto my face as I slipped my hand into the bend of his arm. "I didn't think to tell you about the allergy. No one's ever brought me flowers before."

"A pretty girl like you should get flowers every day," he told me shyly.

That was a red flag; what if he thought I was ugly? I think everyone deserves flowers, they're nice to look at and make people happy. I also didn't like the idea that only boys could get girls flowers; why couldn't I surprise a boy with a bouquet of lilies? Did I mention that I hated society and its gender roles? But that was a story for another day.

That statement was a grim prediction for the rest of the date. Ryan tried his best to be sweet, but his sexist remarks got under my skin. I could tell he was raised by very old fashioned parents and it was really annoying. Don't get me wrong, I loved a gentlemen, but I couldn't stand someone who made me feel like I was less than them because of my genitalia.

"I don't understand why you wear so much makeup, Adalyn. I love it when girls are naturally beautiful and so do most other guys," he said from his spot in the booth across from me.

I wore darker makeup for the date because that's what my mom always advised. The stupid boy probably thought I wasn't wearing makeup during class. I wasn't my fault he thought my eyelids were naturally glittery and three different shades of brown blended together flawlessly. I now knew why that boy wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw.

I heard familiar laughter and looked up in time to see my friends entering the Three Broomsticks. I saw Alice take a running leap and toss herself at James Potter –I didn't even notice he was here! I caught Roxy's eye and saw her smile, turning her head to the side in question and pointing at Ryan.

I glanced over at him to make sure he wasn't looking and shook my head, miming death by gunshot. She nodded and immediately swooped in with Rose and Scorpius being drug behind her. They looked confused until they saw that she was dragging them to me and everything fell into place. They were the smartest kids in our year after all.

"Hey, Adalyn! I didn't know you were going to be here," Roxy exclaimed wrapping her arms around me when I stood up. "Who's this?"

"Ryan, this is Roxy, Rose, and Scorpius," I introduced without sitting down. "He's in my charms class."

"James has a big table save for all of us," Alice announced, joining our group. Then she saw me and hugged me, "Adalyn! You guys have to come join us for lunch!"

I looked over at Ryan and saw his expression was very guarded. He either knew what I'd done or wasn't very happy that my friends were crashing our date. I felt a twinge of guilt for making him feel like that, but I didn't see our relationship going anywhere. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was going to move seats in class to make things less awkward for both of us.

"That's a great idea! Do you want to go eat with them, Ryan?" I asked, smiling dazzlingly at him and tossing my hair for good measure. "I want you to meet my mates."

His face as torn, but my show of glamour made the decision for him. I felt a little bad for using my Veela wiles to make him do something, but then I remembered how he'd made me feel the entire date and it evaporated. There definitely wouldn't be a second date between us.

"Yeah, that sounds good," he said, standing up and offering me his arm.

I was freakin' fragile; I didn't need assistance getting up. I always thought boys being polite and taking care of me would be a good thing, but I was so very wrong. I was too independent and strong-minded for a boy to _ever_ treat me like I was lesser than him.

We walked over to the large table and squeezed in between Rose and Harrison. Ryan seemed miserable the entire meal, but I was actually having fun. I kept catching Sev staring at the two of us, well, glaring at us was a better description. Something in my chest ached and made me look down at my fingers; why was he so upset with me?

After lunch Ryan and I excused ourselves to walk around Hogsmeade together. He hesitantly took my hand in his and let them swing between us. Maybe he still thought this was a good date or something, but I was completely done with it.

By the time we made it back to the castle, Ryan had offended me four more times. We were standing at the top of the dungeon stairs, the awkwardness almost palpable. He had to feel it, no one could be this oblivious to the things happening around them. Yet he was still looking at me with that goofy, lovesick grin that he'd been flashing me all day.

"I would really like to kiss you, Adalyn," he said, moving closer and brushing my hair over my shoulder.

I decided to play his own game and use it against him. "I'm sorry, but I don't kiss on the first date. It's not very ladylike."

He smile grew at that and he kissed the top of my hand instead. "I'll see you later, Adalyn."

As soon as he was gone, I rushed back to the carriages and into Hogsmeade to get to the others. A saw a distinct set of red curls beside straight blonde hair and black hair: Rose, Alice, and Roxy. I rushed into the store and over to them so I could tell them what called for their assistance earlier.

"He was literally the biggest misogynistic pig that I've ever met," I announced, tossing my hands up in exasperation. "I'm never going out with him again, _ever_."

"Oh, he's one of those? Was it outright or covered with the ruse of being a _gentleman_?" Rose asked, smirking at me.

"It started when he brought me flowers, but I'm allergic to daisies so he had to get rid of them. He said that every pretty girl deserved flowers and it rubbed me the wrong way. If I was ugly I don't deserve flowers?" I asked, recounting my date for them. "Then he suggested that I order a salad when we got here and refused to let me leave a tip. He even told me I wear too much makeup and should try for a more _natural_ look, like I wear makeup to make boys like him happy!"

"Oh damn, that's harsh. The poor boy had no chance," Roxy said, trying to hold in her laughter. "Even the nicest green eyes couldn't make up for misogyny."

I spent the rest of the day with the girls and had a lot more fun than earlier. We all went back to school together and met up with the guys for dinner. Hogwarts had gotten more lax about sitting with your house, especially on weekends and holidays. People pretty much sat wherever they wanted; I thought it promoted unity.

Sev sat down beside me suddenly and made me jump, spilling pumpkin juice down my front. "Sev! I really liked this dress without juice!"

"My bad," he said, grabbing a napkin off the table and patting my collarbone. "I didn't mean to scare you, I thought you saw us walking up."

I was trying to splutter out a response when his hands dipped lower. He wasn't exactly groping me, but he was as close as he could get to it. I knew my face was flaming as I sat stock-still, at a loss for what to do. I heard Roxy start giggling and elbow Alice to show her what was happening.

"Damn mate, I always reckoned you fancied her, but I never colored you a fan of PDA," Scorpius chuckled.

Sev froze with his hand still pressed against my chest, almost touching my breast. "Shit, I didn't even realize… I'm so sorry! I'm a total prick, I'm so sorry!"

"Move your hand, idiot. You're still groping her at the dinner table," Roxy remarked before eating the chicken on her fork.

Sev yanked his hand back and slid them under his thighs. I knew I should've been more upset, but it was actually so adorable. I went from a date with Ryan who _asked_ if he could kiss me to Sev feeling me up in front of the entire Hogwarts student body. The difference was, I actually liked Sev and had less than zero feelings for Ryan.

To be fair, I did warn Ryan that the date could be a disaster. I knew myself well enough to know that I was picky about the people I dated –you had to be when thought you were hotter than most of the people in movies. I should've known that things with Ryan were going to be bad when he said that I had to prove I was _worthy _of this feelings.

"How'd you date go?" Sev asked after the awkwardness died around us. "I didn't really like the bloke that much, but I suppose I can make an exception if you really do."

That was sweet, he hated Ryan but wasn't going to say anything if I liked him. Sev really liked me! So far I really liked having a best friend.

"He's a total toerag," I replied, grinning at his relieved face. "I'm never going out with him again, don't worry. I know you all thought he was dreadful."

The rest of dinner was filled with talk about classes and possible love interests. We were in the middle of talking about Scorpius' promiscuity and its downfalls when Professor McGonagall called for all of our attention. Silence easily fell over the entire Great Hall, an automatic response when she announced her presence.

"Students, I've been in conference with my fellow headmasters from around the other schools around the world. We've decided that we need to do something that promotes unity with fellow wizards," she said, explaining her absence. "Hogwarts has been chosen as the location for the first Wizard Unity Ball. In December students from Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbaton Academy of Magic will be gracing our halls. They will sit in on your classes for the month before the ball that takes place right before the Christmas holidays."

Excited murmurs erupted as soon as Professor McGonagall sat back down. Everyone was absolutely reeling about a ball and other students coming to Hogwarts. I knew about the Triwizard Tournament, it was a very revered tradition, but I'd never heard of a Unity Ball before.

"Well, well, well, it looks like you're not going to be the only Veela in school anymore," Arden's pointed voice said, coming up behind me with two other girls in tow. "That means no more boys fawning all over you!"

"Will you just shut your fat gob already?" Roxy asked, glaring at the girl. "You're just pissed that your stunt didn't ruin Adalyn's life."

"Yeah, people genuinely like her because she's not a freakin' harpy like you!" Harrison announced glaring at her like the others.

"Just go away, we don't want you to sit with us," Rose said, looking up from her plate for the first time. "You've made your bed, now go lie in it. Preferably far away from the lot of us."

Arden tossed her head back and barked out laughter. "You're all so cute, flocking together to protect the resident ice queen."

I felt my eyebrows knit together as I looked at her, confusion clouding my mind. I knew people thought I was cold, but I've never been called an ice queen at least not to my face. I'm sure there was some story behind it because Arden never did anything without ulterior motives.

"It's called friendship; I understand that it's not something you've ever had experience with, but it's not a hard concept to grasp," Scorpius said, staring down his nose at her –a feat I was aware could happen when someone was sitting down and the other was standing.

Arden just shrugged her shoulders and walked away, her skirt swishing gracefully and her hair bouncing. It wasn't fair that evil came in suck pretty packaging. It was very deceiving.

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**Thank you so much for reading! **


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter opens up a lot of doors! I can't wait to write the next one because it's going to be so good!**

**There's a link to Adalyn's outfit on my profile, as per usual.**

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Talk of the Unity Ball was all I heard about in the halls, in the common room, even in class. I wasn't very excited about it, I was just starting to get used to the Hogwarts students. The last thing I wanted was for _two _new schools to come, it would take _forever_ for me to get comfortable around them too. I wasn't very good with change, if you haven't noticed.

We got word from Lorcan's parents that he wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts until at least after break. They went on a big hunt for undiscovered animals in the wild and he got bit by some random bug. He ended up being allergic to it and was now on bed rest –totally quarantined from other people in case he was contagious.

The guys informed us at breakfast of Lorcan's predicament. It made conversation a bit strained before Harrison changed the subject to the Unity Ball.

"So, Lyn, how many guys have asked you to the ball already?" Roxy asked, grinning when she saw my eyes widen in surprise.

"A couple, but I don't know any of their names," I said, focusing on my food instead of the curious eyes looking at me. "I don't even know if I'm going with someone or not."

"We could always go together," Harrison said, winking at me when I finally looked up at him.

I heard a commotion behind me before someone tapped my shoulder. When I turned, I saw Ryan standing there with a cocky smile on his face. Since our date, he stopped being the shy and sweet guy I met on the train. It made my job a lot easier; it was so much easier being a total bitch to a guy that deserved it.

"Adalyn, do you have a date to the Unity Ball yet?" he asked, ignoring all my friends. I shook my head and he continued. "Good, that means we can go together."

"She's lying, she already said she'd go with me," Harrison said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and turning to face Ryan. "Bye now."

Ryan seemed at a loss for words before he turned around and went back to his table. I saw his friends elbowing him and making jokes in his expense. Well, I guess the Puffs weren't always very nice.

"Thanks for that," I said, crinkling my nose at him before turning to Alice. "Is James coming back to go with you?

She turned red and her smile was blinding; she was so in love with him! That was what I wanted, someone who made me light up like a Jack-o'-lantern when someone _mentioned_ their name. I guess that would imply I actually let someone get that close to me without putting up my wall.

"I haven't asked him yet, I don't want to bother him right now," she answered, chewing on her lip. "He's in the middle of Auror training, I don't want to distract him."

"She's not wrong. If he wasn't with Alice, he had a book pressed to his face all summer," Sev said. "I wasn't even sure he could read before, honestly."

I elbowed him in the ribs and giggled. "That's not nice, he's your brother. You're supposed to support him!"

He smiled back over at me and hit my shoulder with his. "I do support him, he's going to be a great Auror. He's just never been the smartest in the family."

"Of course not, that's Lily-Luna," Roxy smirked, making all of us burst into laughter.

* * *

My favorite holiday out of every single one of them was Halloween. I loved putting on costumes and being someone else for a night. There was two weeks until the annual Potter-Weasley party and I still didn't have a costume. Rose, Alice, Roxy, and me had plans to hit up a muggle costume shop when everyone went down to Hogsmeade for the weekend.

I already knew Alice wanted something cute, Roxy wanted something sexy, Rose wanted something practical, and I wanted something scary but not ugly. I assumed the guys already got theirs because they turned us down when we invited them on our excursion.

We were all walking downstairs together when Quinn Taylor stopped me. He was a Ravenclaw with pretty blue eyes and messy black hair. I've heard him speak in class, he was confident but not over the top about it. He was one of those guys that didn't know how attractive he really was.

"Hello ladies, heading to Hogsmeade?" he asked, pushing his hair out of his face with his free hand.

"No, we're going to Apparate to a muggle village and get costumes for the Halloween party," Roxy said, batting her lashes and using her flirty smile.

"We're going to go grab some breakfast. We'll meet you at the carriages, Rox," I said, walking away with the other girls.

"Adalyn, wait! I need to ask you something," Quinn shouted, making the group of us stop. "Do you want to go to the Halloween party with me?"

I glanced at Roxy and saw her face fall. "Uhm, I already promised the girls I'd go with them. I'm sorry!"

"Well, save me a dance?" he asked, still confident with an easygoing smile.

"For sure," I said, trying my best to get out of the awkward situation. After Quinn went back up the stairs, I turned to Roxy and immediately started spewing apologies. "I am so sorry! I know you like him, I didn't mean to interfere! I totally get it if you hate me and don't want to be my friend anymore."

"Dude, it's okay. I wasn't in love with him or anything, I just wouldn't mind sharing my bed with him," she said, linking our arms. "I'm going to drink on Halloween until at least four boys are hot enough to shag and get laid. It's been too long!"

"Roxy!" Alice exclaimed, hitting her arm as we walked out to the carriages.

"What? It's not like you and James don't do it!" Roxy replied, making Alice's cheeks turn pink. "You're not exactly quiet when you're at the Burrow. That's pretty ballsy, by the way, going at it in the hall closet!"

I felt my jaw drop in surprise. Alice Longbottom never struck me as the kind of girl to have sex anywhere other than a bed with candles in missionary position. Rose's face matched mine while Alice's looked like it could catch fire at any minute and Roxy just looked smug.

"James swore he used a silencing charm!" she hissed. "How many people heard? I'll die if it was anyone other than you! I can never show my face there again!"

"I was just kidding, I didn't actually think you were that kinky!" Roxy admitted, making Alice start screaming at her and the rest of us burst into giggles.

"It's times like this that I'm glad I'm a virgin," Rose said after our laughter died down and we got into a carriage. "It's so messy to be in a sexual relationship."

"You sound like your mum! Sex isn't fun if it's not messy," Roxy argued, making cackles erupt from all of us. "You can laugh all you want, it's better that way!"

"What about you Adalyn? Are you a virgin?" Rose asked.

That was an interesting question. I'm Veela so everyone automatically assumed I've had _tons _of sex, even at age eighteen. The truth was something that intimate scared me to death. I couldn't imagine letting someone get that close to me, seeing me completely vulnerable like that.

"Yeah," I finally said and let the topic drop.

I held Roxy's arm and Rose held Alice's when we Apparated to the muggle village. It was one close to the Burrow, whatever that was, that Roxy and Rose spent a lot of summers in. It was easy enough to get in undetected and find the costume shop, but it was huge and filled to the brim with costumes.

"This is the biggest costume shop I've ever seen!" Alice exclaimed as Roxy led us over to the sexy costumes. "We could all get lost in here!"

"That's why we're all going to stay together," Rose replied, linking her arm with the excited blonde's.

She ended up choosing some random superhero with barely any skirt and a corset top that made boobs almost fall out, but she made it look really good. We moved onto Alice next and she chose a fairy costume with a skirt made of leaves that fluttered when she walked. I didn't get why girls' costumes had to be sexy while guys could go dressed as freakin' inflatable wiener dogs. It was infuriating –I didn't want to be sexy, I wanted to be terrifying!

Rose and I went to the same section, the dark one that had blood spatter on the sign above it. It was good to know we were on the same page when it came to costumes. She chose an evil queen with a velvety dress that had a long train while the actual skirt was mid-thigh.

I stuck with my original idea of being scary and got a vampire costume. It had a floor length dress and a corset that made my boobs look a lot bigger than they were. To be what every male dreamed of, I didn't have big boobs –just a B cup.

After we bought our costumes, we ventured back out into the town. It was actually really cool with a lot of interesting little shops. I saw a piercing place and had a sudden urge to do something wild. I went and got a muggle ID during a summer trip to France with my parents.

"Guys, talk me out of getting my nose pierced!" I announced once we were inside the shop.

"I think you should go for it. Do something bad just to do something bad," Roxy encouraged. "We're all agreeing with you!"

Ten minutes later I walked out of the shop with the girls and a black stud in my nostril. It hurt a little bit, but it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. The only downside was I had to hide it during classes because it was against the rules. A basic cloaking charm would make it undetectable and Roxy was a professional at casting it. I didn't ask why and didn't honestly want to know.

We made it back to Hogsmeade a little later and went to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. I saw Sev sitting at a booth by himself and waved, my stomach tightening when he smiled and waved back at me. What was that? That shouldn't happen when I see Sev. He was my friend, you weren't supposed to have sweaty palms when you looked at your best friend.

Scorpius and Harrison were sitting on the other side of the booth, but I didn't feel like that when they waved at me. I pushed it down as far as I could before I slid in beside Sev. I could feel his eyes on me, looking at me to tell what was different.

"Mate, you've got to learn what subtly is!" Scorpius exclaimed, tossing a bit of rolled up napkin at Sev's face. "Stop being a creep."

"Shut up!" he hissed, reaching across the table to slap the back of his head. "There's something on her nose and I'm trying to figure out if it's supposed to be there."

"I got my nose pierced, wanker," I replied, grinning and bumping his shoulder with mine. "I didn't know how long it was going to take you to get there."

"I'm a wanker, am I?" he asked, reaching over and wiping some of the whipped cream from his butterbeer on my nose.

I was going to argue back with him when his sudden movement caused me to inhale some of his cologne. It was so familiar and I realized it was the unfamiliar smell in my Amortentia!

I was in love with Sev?!

* * *

***mic drop***


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for being amazing people and being so supportive of this story! I love you all so much!**

**There's a link to the girls' costumes on my profile if you want to see them. **

* * *

The first few days after I made my discovery, I cut myself off from the world. I only went to class, spending my meals in the library with my homework. The last thing I wanted was to accidently say Sev's cologne was in my Amortentia in the middle of tea, that would be the biggest debacle in Hogwarts' history. Okay, maybe I'm being a _wee_ bit dramatic, but you get the point. It would be a disaster.

By Wednesday of the next week, Sev had enough and started searching for me. I made sure to make appearances when the girls were involved to stop their questioning, but never thought I needed to do the same for him. I also never thought I would walk into my dorm and see him sitting on my bed, watching the door for my entrance.

"Bloody hell, I'm glad it's you. The last thing I need is to be caught in here by another girl. I would get detention for a month and mum would kill me," he exclaimed.

"Why are you here? Don't you have a parchment for potions you should be working on?" I asked, heading over to my pile of discarded clothes and folding them anxiously. "How did you even get up here? The staircase is charmed to keep guys off the floor."

"I grew up around the Weasley family with Harry Potter as my father. There's not a lot I can't do," he replied, smirking at me. "I'm very quick on my feet, Lyn."

I rolled my eyes as I folded a skirt. "Whatever, you shouldn't be up here. It won't just be you who's in trouble if you're caught."

"Trust me, I'm good at getting out of girl's rooms unscathed," he replied flippantly.

That made my stomach toss and my heart squeeze painfully. I figured he slept with other girls, but actually hearing him say it like it wasn't a big deal was completely different. Wow, how long have I had a thing for Sev Potter? It just kept coming in waves, taking me off guard every time.

"Did you come up here to brag about the amount of girls you've shared your bed with?" I asked, tossing the skirt down and glaring at him. "That's vile and misogynistic!"

"What?" he asked in confusion. Then realization dawned on him and he quickly backtracked, "No! I came up here to talk to you, not to piss you off. I was worried because I haven't seen you in a few days. I'm sorry!"

Guilt flooded me as I moved to sit beside him on my bad. "I'm sorry for yelling, I just don't know how to deal with all this."

He raised his brows and turned his body to face mine. "What do you mean? What's going on?"

Shit, I stuck my foot in that one for sure. I had no choice but to keep pushing on. "Can I ask you a question without any strings attached?"

"Uhm, I guess so…" he replied, his curiosity overwhelming his reluctance.

"Can one's Amortentia change?" I asked, figuring I'd slowly ease myself into the conversation instead of just jumping in. "Can someone smell some things for a long time and then a new one just _be_ there the next time it's brewed?"

His eyes got big for a second before he pushed his glasses up and yanked a hand through his hair. "I suppose, people change so it only makes sense that one's Amortentia scents would change, too."

"Do you know anyone that's happened to?" I asked, still gently treading the water.

His face turned red and he suddenly found my emerald quilt very interesting. "I may have heard a few people talking about it recently… Why?"

I was just going to jump in this time. "I've always smelled the same three smells, but there was a new one the last time we brewed it. I was afraid there was something wrong with me. I figured I'd ask you before I went to the infirmary wing."

That wasn't _technically_ a lie, it just wasn't the complete truth. I hoped he couldn't tell I was keep something from him, mum always told me I was a terrible liar. I crossed my fingers under my thigh and waited for him to talk. Maybe he wouldn't realize I was lying through my teeth about smelling his cologne in my Amortentia and freaking out about my feelings for him.

"Your life _has_ changed pretty drastically in the past two months," he finally said, fidgeting with his loosened tie. "I'm sure that's effecting everything, your Amortentia included."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," I said breathed out.

He turned his entire body suddenly, his knee touching my thigh. "Why do you cut yourself off from me when something happens to you? I thought I was your best friend."

That was the exact question I hoped he wouldn't ask. I didn't want to tell him I had a crush on him or I was afraid to get too close. I didn't want to get hurt and lose him from my life, and I knew lying could do that. I also knew that unrequited feelings could, too. So I figured keeping everything to myself or cutting myself off from the situation was the best choice for everyone involved.

"I don't like letting people get close to me; it's scary," I said, telling him the closest version of the truth I could. I was looking at my fingernails when I quietly added on, "I don't want to lose you, I care too much about you."

I saw his big hand cover both of mine, rubbing over my knuckles soothingly. "I'm not going to run away screaming when you tell me how you feel. I want you to tell me everything, Lyn. I can't handle it when you close yourself off, I need you in my life."

I looked up at him finally and saw that his pupils were huge behind his glasses. I licked my lips nervously and saw him glance down at them before looking back up to my eyes quickly. Without either of our consent, we started leaning into each other. Our breath was mingling together, mint washing over my face, when the door to the dorm pushed open.

"Oh! Sorry!" Poppy Oxford shrieked, covering her eyes with her hand. "I didn't know you guys were in here. You're supposed to close your curtains if you've got company, Adalyn!"

I knew my face was flaming, but I wasn't alone. Sev's face was vibrant red, so much that it looked like he'd laid in the sun for too long. I jumped up quickly and grabbed his hand before stomping downstairs. I was almost to the bottom when his hand was yanked out of mine.

I turned around to see him levitating upside down, the contents of his pockets falling to the ground and his shirt falling up to his lower chest. His entire stomach was exposed, it wasn't muscular but flat with a thin line of hair leading down into his trousers. Mhm, he was hot…that was good to catalog for later when he wasn't glaring at me.

"What the hell are you looking at? Get me down!" he shrieked, trying to flip himself up right. "I hate being upside down and high in the air! I'm going to be ill all over the place!"

"I don't know, you're easier to handle when you're levitating upside down," I smiled, tapping my wand against my chin teasingly. "Why don't I leave you here and go grab some dinner? Do you want be to bring you back anything?"

"ADALYN!" he shouted when I turned to walk away. "Don't leave me here!"

"Relax, Albie, I'm not going to leave you here," I cooed, making up a nickname on the spot. "I've got you, don't worry."

* * *

"He almost kissed you?!" Roxy exclaimed, looking at me in surprise as I applied my eyeshadow. "Like, his mouth almost pressed against your mouth?"

"That was the definition of kissing the last time I checked," I replied, lining my eyes heavily with black kohl liner. "It's not a big deal, nothing happened because of Poppy."

"Okay, I want the entire story from start to finish. Everything that led up to the almost kiss," Rose said, filling in her brows in the same mirror I was doing my eyeliner in. "Don't leave anything out, we're going to use our combined intelligences to help you."

"I asked him if it was possible for your Amortentia to acquire more scents as life goes on," I said. "He said he'd heard someone else say they smelled something new so he agreed. Then he said it made sense because my life changed so drastically lately, I should probably smell something new."

"That's so funny, he was just talking about smelling something new in his a few weeks ago," Alice exclaimed from the side of the room she was on. "That's peculiar!"

"Huh?" I asked, turning to face all of them.

"Sev was ranting the other day to Scorp and Harrison about smelling some random perfume in his Amortentia," Rose explained. "He said it was familiar but not something he immediately recognized."

"That was exactly what it was like with mine! " I shouted, making Alice jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just happy someone else experienced it, too. I recognized the smell, but I couldn't quite name it."

"He was the smell, wasn't he?" Roxy asked, rushing over to clutch my shoulders desperately. "Your mystery smell was Sev!"

My nod triggered cheers from all the girls. I turned back to the mirror and finished my makeup, making sure it was perfect before doing a spell that made it smudge-proof. I went with straight hair and also did a charm to make that last all night. The last thing I wanted was either of them to get ruined; I wanted to look gorgeous tonight. I wanted to be terrifyingly beautiful, just like everyday, but have fun with it this time.

"You two are in love! I bet your perfume is the new smell in his potion!" Alice said, dancing around and making her fairy costume come to life. "Oh my goodness! We can have a double wedding and marry brothers! We'll be sisters! It's going to be so brilliant!"

"Whoa, slow down! I just said I smelled him, we have no idea if I'm what he smelled. We don't need to talk about marriage just yet," I said, holding up my hands in surrender. "Let's just take this day by day, okay?"

After my mini freakout, we all finished getting ready and went down to the Room of Requirement to the party. According to the guys, we had to be downstairs earlier than the everyone else to help them set up. I didn't have a say in what we did, Alice agreed for all of us because James was making an appearance for her. That girl would do anything for him...

The guys were spread around the room hanging up decorations and loading a table with alcohol. Everything looked under control so we all went and made ourselves something to drink before sitting down on the couch. I glanced over at Sev and saw that he was already looking at me with a bottle of firewhisky in his hand. This night was already off to a smashing start!

He was going straight to being drunk instead of pacing himself. I had a cup with a lot of apple juice and a _splash_ of Firewhisky, I wasn't quite as brave as he seemed to be. He wasn't stumbling yet so he must be pretty sober, but the night hadn't started yet. There was still a long night ahead, I'm sure he'd be plastered by the end of it.

"You look nice," he said, stopping a few inches in front of me. "Red looks good on you, maybe you should've been a Gryffindor."

I gestured to the bottle in his hand before speaking. "Is that you or the Firewhisky talking? I've been known to be pretty hot with beer goggles on."

"This isn't beer and you're still gorgeous," he smiled, brushing my hair over my shoulder. "Wow, I probably shouldn't have said that out loud."

I took a drink from my cup instead of answering him, mostly because I didn't have any idea what to say. How are you supposed to reply when your best friend tells you you're gorgeous then tries to take it back?

The party started soon after that and I didn't have to worry about Sev. I didn't even see him for the first hour, I was too distracted by the girls. All they wanted to do was dance and all of us had to be on the floor or none of us went. I felt hands slide onto my hips and turned to see Quinn Taylor behind me. That was the last thing I expected to happen tonight, even if I did promise him a dance.

"Can I have that dance you now?" he asked, his words slurring together and telling me he'd had _a lot_ to drink.

"She'd _love_ to dance with you, Quinn!" Rose exclaimed, having a little too much to drink herself.

Alice already left us to dance with James somewhere else in the room. Rose took Roxy's hand and moved a couple feet away but still in eyesight. That was just a girl thing, never leaving your friend alone with a new guy you didn't trust and Quinn fell into that category. No matter how much alcohol was in your system, that was how you ran things.

"You look hot, but you could've showed a bit more skin. It is Halloween after all, it gives girls the perfect chance to dress like sluts and get away with it," he said, trying to move his body with the music and failing. "There's no judgement on Halloween. All your friends got the memo."

I wanted to scream at him, but I knew it would be pointless. He was too drunk for a lesson in body commodification to sink in. I just made a note to never talk to him again after tonight, he wasn't my type. Drunk people often said the things their sober mind wouldn't let danced until the song ended, him touching my butt way too many times to be the accident he claimed it was, but I just let it slide and went back to my friends.

"He's vile, Roxy. You can have him," I told her, taking a drink from her cup. It burned the entire way down and made my vision blur instantly. "Holy shit, what is this?"

"It's charmed Firewhisky. It's supposed to get you drunker faster and I think it's working," Rose explained. "Look at her, she's a mess and it's only half twelve."

I actually looked at Roxy and realized she was barely standing upright. The girl needed to be taken to bed before she did something she'd regret in the morning. I sighed before taking her arm and tossing it over my shoulder; I was the most sober and needed to make sure everyone else was okay. I just got friends, I didn't want to lose them already.

"I'm going to take her up to bed. What's the password?" I asked Rose, trying to keep Roxy from falling over.

"Lemon treacle," Rose said, eyeing Scorpius from her spot. "Do you think Scorp's fit? Roxy and Alice said it's stupid! But I think he's hot."

"Scorpius is very hot, but you're going to regret having sex with him so don't do that. You're a virgin and don't want to change that because you're drunk," I told her, trying to hold up a struggling Roxy. "Promise me you'll wait until I come back to make a move. Swear?"

She sighed but wrapped her pinky around mine anyway. "I swear I won't make a move on Scorpius until you come back. Then he's free game."

"Who's free game?" Sev asked, walking up to the group of us. "Whoa! What happened to Roxy? She's drunk off her ass!"

He was slurring his words a bit more than earlier, but he still wasn't drunk off his ass. Hmm, he must have a pretty high alcohol tolerance or something. His mobster outfit was still pretty well put together, his tie was loosened and he'd lost the jacket, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He actually looked really good.

"She charmed her Firewhisky to get her drunk faster and now she's smashed," I replied, hefting her back up for the umpteenth time. "I'm taking her to bed before she does something stupid."

"I'll help, I know how difficult a drunk Roxy is," he said, handing his drink over to Rose. "Don't drink that unless you want to be completely hammered. It's charmed like Roxy's."

She nodded as Sev wrapped Roxy's other arm around his shoulder. We made our way up to the Gryffindor common room, receiving a confused and disgruntle look from the Fat Lady, and up to the seventh year dorm. I pulled off her shoes and cleaned off her makeup with magic, tucking her in and going back downstairs to meet Sev.

"That was nice of you, leaving your date to bring her back upstairs," he remarked, gesturing for me to go through the open door first and then following behind me.

"Quinn wasn't my date, I just promised him a dance the other day," I replied, bumping him with my hip. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were jealous of him."

I expected him to blatantly deny it, but he didn't. "And what would you do if I was?"

That stopped me in my tracks, I thought he would make fun of me or brush it off. I didn't know where to go from there, I'd never been in that situation before. Sev was pretty much my first experience with genuine feelings of attraction to someone that ran deeper than their appreciation. I was flying blind.

"So does that mean you were?" I prodded, trying to get more out of him.

He reached out for my hand and pulled me to a stop in the middle of the hallway. I expected him to start backtracking, saying he was too drunk to be listened to or something like that. Instead he moved his hands up to cradle my face before he gently pressed his lips to mine. We were both a little tipsy and probably not doing the best thing for our relationship, but neither of us pulled away. I held his waist lightly, trying to ground myself somehow. In my heels, I was closer to his height and he didn't have to stoop over to reach me, something I didn't expect when I put them on earlier but was happy for now.

When we finally parted, he rested his forehead against mine and tried to catch his breath. "I've wanted to do that for ages, Adalyn. Merlin, thank god for Firewhisky, right?"

My lips twitched into a grin as his words settled in. He wanted to kiss me because he felt the same way I did. I wanted to hear him say he felt some type of way for me but didn't want to force it out. No matter how big a feminist I was, I could never tell him my feelings first. I was too afraid of his rejection and depended on his stability too much to lose him.

"We'd better get back to the party before Rose drinks all your whisky and started making bad decisions," I said, sliding my fingers between his. "Even though this is really nice and I kind of want to stay in this moment forever."

He smiled and leaned back in, pressing a chaste kiss to my lips, before leading us back to the Room of Requirement. I was glad for the help because I was so high after our kiss I couldn't see straight. Inside the Room, the party was still raging strong and Rose was sitting by Scorpius on the couch. It looked like she was barely keeping her self restrained from jumping him and he wasn't interested in the slightest. Ouch, I hated that for her.

I pulled Sev to a stop and asked, "How drunk is Scorpius right now?"

"He didn't drink at all tonight, too focused on making sure we don't catch anything on fire like last year," he replied, summoning his Firewhisky back from Rose. "Why?"

"Rose is drunk and thinks he's fit. I made her promise not to make a move before I got back, but he doesn't look interested in her," I said, gesturing over to the pair of them on the couch.

"You want to know a secret?" he asked, leaning in close to me and making my heartbeat faster. "He and Harrison are together, like _together _together."

"They're gay?!" I asked in disbelief. "But Scorpius would rather make fun of him than breathe."

"I never said either of them were gay, but I share a dorm with them and sometimes they forget to cast a silencing charm," he replied, shaking his head to get rid of the memories. "Don't say anything, none of the girls know. They want to keep it a secret until we leave Hogwarts, Scorp's dad would flip. Not that they're actually in a relationship or anything, but it would still be quite the debacle for a Malfoy."

"But I've seen them both look at me like they're interested," I said, still trying to grasp onto what he was telling me in my whisky clouded mind. "I don't understand."

"You know it's possible to be interested in both genders, right?" he asked, winking at me haughtily. "God knows Scorpius shares his bed with a fair share of both. Like I said he and Harrison aren't in a relationship, they just have sex as far as I know. I didn't ask for the details, honestly. They're my best mates and it's cool that they're together, I just don't want to know everything."

"That's cool for them, I suppose," I replied, trying to let everything sink in. "What about Rose? You just let her throw herself at him even though you know he has _zero_ interest? That's cruel!"

"Scorpius has been fighting off her drunken advances for almost two years now. I think he can handle this one," he replied, pointing over at them. "See? She's not even over there anymore. She loses interest in everything while she's drunk, no harm no foul."

He was right, she was dancing with Alice now while James sat talking with Scorpius. "Huh, I still have a lot to learn about this group, don't I?"

"Probably, but right now you're going to come dance with me," he smiled, pulling me onto the horde of dancers. "And you're going to drink with me because we're way too sober."

* * *

**I hope you thought this chapter was as good as the others. Thaaaaaaaanks :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**So this is just a fluffy, filler chapter. I hope that's okay!**

* * *

Fuck, Sev Potter and his idea of drinking so much last night. I woke up the next morning and had to immediately rush to the bathroom. When my stomach was completely empty, I braided back my bangs and pulled my hair up into a ponytail before brushing my teeth. The pounding in my head made it difficult to do much anything else.

I made my way to the common room and saw Sev, Scorpius, and Harrison all sitting on the couch with sunglasses on. We were in the dungeons, there was no sunlight in the common room at all, yet there they were. I giggled and groaned when it echoed around in my head. Hangovers were a bitch!

"Adalyn, how are you not wearing sunglasses right now? It's so bright _everywhere_," Harrison asked, squinting at me through the dark lenses of his glasses.

"Well, we're in the dungeons of the castle and you have all the lamps off. The only light down here is the fire and it's barely burning," I replied, burrowing into the couch between Scorpius and Sev. "You're all just big babies."

Sev wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pressed his lips to the side of my head. It made warmth fill my body; he was still interested in me even after the whisky wore off and a hangover took its place. I curved my body against his and placed my hand on his stomach with one of my legs draped over his lap. He let out a content sigh and leaned his head back against the couch. Wow, this was something I could definitely get used to…

"So I assume you're together now?" Scorp asked a little while later. "That or you're both still drunk."

"Speaking of being drunk, why are you hungover? I thought you didn't drink last night," Sev asked, not moving his body at all.

"Well, after Rose hit on me I figured I should drink. The last thing I wanted was for her to think I was sober when it happened. It would embarrass her," he shrugged. "That and it was two am and I was bored. I figured why not be bored _and_ drunk."

I moved my hand from Sev's stomach and elbowed Scorp in the ribs playfully. "You're terrible, you could just tell her you're not interested instead of leading her on."

"Have you met Rose Weasley? She's too stubborn to be let down like that," he replied, lifting his sunglasses to look at me with bloodshot silver eyes. "I like my manly bits where they are, thanks."

"You're not the only one," Harrison replied. Then quickly tacked on, "The female population would be devastated by the loss."

"I told Adalyn about you guys last night. You don't have to _tactfully_ cover up your slipups anymore," Sev said, looking over at the guys. "If you didn't figure it out, I was being sarcastic –just sayin'."

"You did what?!" Scorpius shouted, tearing his glasses off and causing his hair to fall into his face. "You swore you wouldn't say anything and the second you get a girlfriend you can't keep a secret?"

"I don't care what you two do, it's none of my business," I said, shrugging my shoulders and burrowing back into Sev. "I won't say anything to anyone, like I said, it's _your_ business."

It took a few minutes, but eventually he calmed back down enough to relax. Harrison seemed unmoved by the situation, but I saw his shoulders sag when he realized I wasn't going to be mean about it. I mean, it's 2032 after all. It's not like boys having boyfriends was a new thing…

"You still haven't learned how to make a hangover potion?" Roxy shouted as she made her entranced into the common room. "That's pathetic –what the hell happened and why did none of us know about this?"

I looked at her and saw that she was staring at me and Sev with her jaw dropped. Alice and Rose had similar expressions when they caught up to her. I just rolled my eyes and stood up, popping my back and taking one of the vials from Rose's slackened hand.

It tasted vile, but the tugging in my stomach ache in my head disappeared as soon as I swallowed it. I could've danced around if it wouldn't have involved movement. I just wanted to burrow back into Sev's side and nap for the rest of the day.

"We're going into Hogsmeade today for a Honeyduke's run. Do you all want to come?" Rose asked, perching on the table in front of us.

She looked so out of place down here it was comical. Her flaming hair was so different than the cool metallic and emerald glass behind her. The girl was a Gryffindor even in her looks and it made me smile. I did always think she resembled a lion and with unstraightened hair, it was even more prominent.

"I like you hair when it's not straightened," I told her absentmindedly. "It looks really nice."

She patted it absentmindedly as her cheeks dusted pink. I guess she never got compliments on it like that. Well, I was glad I could make her feel good about herself because I was _definitely_ not going to Hogsmeade today. If I went anywhere, it would be back to my bed –hopefully with Sev.

"I'm completely out of chocolate frogs, I'm coming," Harrison announced, hoping up from the couch.

"It's good to hear him say that without having his dick in Scorpius," Sev whispered to me, making my cheeks burn and laugh work its way out of my chest.

"What are you two whispering about?" Alice asked, her smile splitting her face in half.

"Nothing," we said simultaneously. Then Sev added, "Please pass me a vial of potion. My head is splitting in two right now."

Rose tossed him a vial that I caught, he was much too distracted to worry about catching now. He downed the vial liquid and slid off his sunglasses. His eyes weren't as bloodshot as Scorp's, but they were a close second. Thankfully that was fading away because of the potion now.

"I think I'm going to pass on Hogsmeade, girls. I'm sorry," I said, yawning and stretching my arms above my head. "My bed's calling my name."

"More like Sev's bed is calling your name," Scorpius replied, standing up and joining the group. "I'm just bored of these four walls, I need something new."

"Because he's far too used to the hangings around Harrison's bed," Sev whispered, making me snort with laughter and cover my mouth. "You're adorable."

I kissed the tip of his nose and heard Scorpius retch dramatically. I flipped him the bird and he blew me a kiss in response. With that, the group of them left the Sev and me alone in the common room together. It was awkward for a few minutes until he started to rub my exposed hipbone absentmindedly.

"I wasn't kidding about my bed calling my name," I replied, getting up and making my way to the staircase. I stopped at the bottom, turned around, and looked at him with a grin. "Well, aren't you coming with me?"

He was up and scurrying over faster than I'd ever seen him move before. I just laughed and walked up the stairs, expecting him to follow me, but I saw him at the bottom of the stairs when I turned around. Before I could ask any questions, he cast a levitating spell and was standing beside me easily.

"I'm scandalized, Miss Deveroux," he said, kissing the back of my neck through my hair. "This is so naughty!"

"We're napping together, not shagging each other like animals," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "Regardless, I'll remember to close my curtains this time so Poppy doesn't interrupt."

I kicked my shoes off the second we got to my bed and flopped backwards. Sev was only wearing socks with his plaid pyjama pants and jumper so he was set to go. It was made of chunky, cable-stitched yarn and looked really warm.

"All your family wears these jumpers. I think they're adorable," I replied, pulling him to lie across from me on his side. "Does someone knit them for you?"

His cheeks dusted pink like Rose's earlier as he tugged at the collar of his jumper. "My Gram knits one for all of us and gives them as Christmas gifts. Most people think they're lame…"

I reached forward and traced the A on the front carefully. "I think they're sweet, I wish my Gram cared that much about me."

His fingers wrapped around mind and laid on the bed between us. "I'm sure she loves you, all grandparents love their grandchildren. It's in the grandparents' code book or something."

"I'm not the perfect Veela granddaughter that she wanted. My mum married a pureblood and had me so Gram loves her, but I'm not living the way she thinks I should," I said, trying to brush it off.

"How does she think you should live?" he asked, seemingly interested.

"She thinks I should go to Beauxbatons and date a prince or something," I explained, flopping onto my back dramatically. "She also doesn't like that I have goals that go further than being a wife and mother with a big rock on my finger. Like I'm less of a woman because my biggest desire isn't to be an accessory."

"What do you want to do instead?" he asked, playing with my fingers as we talked.

"I don't know, I've thought about being a healer a lot. I really like kids so maybe pediatrics or something," I answered. "I know it's my seventh year and everything, but thinking about the future scares the crap out of me."

"Yeah, I feel the same way. James is following in dad's footsteps and becoming an Auror, but that never sounded good to me. I kind want to do muggle relations at the Ministry," he replied. "A ton of my family work there so I'm not set on it. The last thing I want is to have people think I got the job just because of my last name. I've had enough of that in school."

"I get it, that's kind of why I want to be a Healer. That has nothing to do with what I look like," I replied, turning to face him in my excitement. "Like, I won't just be another pretty face. I'll be saving people's lives!"

"You are so bloody beautiful, Lyn," he breathed, cupping my face in his hands. "Bloody hell, I should've kissed you ages ago!"

"You could always try to make up for lost time," I replied just as breathily. "And I supposed I can't help."

He smiled before leaning in to me and kissing my lips softly. Kissing Sev Potter was amazing, I could do it for the rest of my life and never have enough. He knew what he was doing, but I pushed _how _he was so good to the back of my mind. The last thing I wanted to do was think about all the girls he's ever been with right now. I would probably do that while I was trying to sleep tonight.

I subconsciously moved my head so I could get closer to him and felt him laugh against my lips. I pulled away quickly, hurt flooding through me. He thought I was a bad kisser and couldn't stop himself from making fun of me. This was mortifying!

"My glasses keep sliding off my face," he laughed, lying flat on my bed. "Merlin, I sound like such a little schoolboy! They're so embarrassing!"

He wasn't laughing about me, he was laughing about himself. He was just as self-conscious as I was in this situation and it made a fire bubble up low in my stomach. It shouldn't be sexy that he was just a nervous as me, but it really was.

"You are too cute, Sev," I laughed, moving over to lay my head on his chest. "I like your glasses, I couldn't imagine you without them."

He craned his neck to look down at me, more difficult than I thought in our position. "You know all the right things to say. Should that make me uneasy? Are you only on the hunt to shag me?"

My face flushed and I immediately broke his gaze. "No! I can assure you that's definitely not what I'm on the hunt for, Albus Severus Potter!"

His hands found my face again as he forced me to look at him. "Hey, I'm just messing about. I wasn't being serious; there's no need for you to get upset."

"I don't usually care about this, but it's hard not to when you say things like that," I said, figuring I would just be honest with him. "I'm a virgin and I know you're not, and it makes me uneasy. My virginity is important to me and the thought of losing it is kind of scary."

"You're a virgin?" he asked, trying his best to not look too surprised. "Wow, that's cool."

"All you have to say about the situation is that it's cool?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him and moving back to look at his full face. "I admit being that close to someone terrifies me and you just think it's cool?"

"Sex is scary, I get that. I remember being freak about it," he shrugged, rubbing his hands over my side. "It's not that big of a deal, once you're actually in the moment."

I hated how small my voice sounded when I asked, "How many girls have you been 'in the moment' with?"

He yanked his hand through his hair and seemed lost in thought. Were there _that _many? So many that he had to seriously lay there and think? My face burned brilliantly, I was in so over my head. He had so much experience and I'd barely kissed another boy.

"Three," he finally replied. "Adelaide Turner, Sophia Rodrigues, and Haylee Spears."

I recalled all of them from the halls. Adelaide Turner was Australian and gorgeous, a year older than us, and at the top of every guy's wet dream list at Hogwarts. Sophia Rodrigues was beautiful and Spanish with tan skin and loads of brown curls with insane curves. Haylee Spears was tall, leggy, and basically a model –actually I think she went into modeling after she left Hogwarts last year.

"Oh, that's quite a list to live up to," I finally replied, unexplainable tears burning my eyes.

"They don't matter, none of that matters. We're here right now and not going to have sex for a while," he replied, pulling me back to him and kissing the top of my head. "Now let's take that nap I was promised."

Part of me wanted to keep pushing, but the other part of me was exhausted. We didn't go to bed until at least four last night and it was only ten right now. Six hours was way too little on the weekend, I wanted to get twelve. Beauty rest was very important, even for Veela.

I turned onto my side and pulled my duvet up over me, cuddling into my pillow. I felt Sev slide under them with me and wrap a timid arm around my waist. I smiled and scooted back until my back was against his chest and rested my hand on his. His body lost all its tension and soon his breath evened out and mine followed.

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**Was that okay or do you guys hate me? I haven't heard from you in a while. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi, this chapter is sad and I'm sorry. Please don't hate me.  
-Love Brooke**

**P.S. It's also not edited, but I looooooooooove you :)**

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It's December fifteenth and Sev still hasn't asked me to the Unity Ball. All the other girls have dates and I'm still going by myself. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to them about it, I would sound so desperate. Maybe I looked too much into us, but it didn't feel that way. We acted like a couple was supposed to, or at least I thought we did. We've been together for almost three months…kind of.

We walked to class together holding hands, cuddled up in front of the fire on the couch, and made out every time we were alone. We even had the boundaries talk; you know, the one where I told him what I was comfortable with and ready for sexually. To me that said we were a couple, but I wasn't exactly an expert –he was my first ever boyfriend.

I was sitting in the library finishing last minute homework when I came to my conclusion. If he didn't ask me by the end of the week, I was going to accept someone else's invitation. I tried to ignore the uncomfortable constricting feeling in my chest at the thought of going with someone else to the Ball.

"Can I sit here?" a familiar Bulgarian accent asked.

Like I've mentioned previously, my dad is Bulgarian and my mum is French. That means I'm fluent in both languages so I was instantly friends with most of the guys from Durmstrang and girls from Beauxbatons. Arden grumbled under her breath and tried to mess it up, but the girls had my back and fought for me. It was pretty entertaining to see _legitimate _harpies fighting with her.

Danail Borev and I were fast friends. We talked about books and how intense our fathers were when it came to our success. He actually ended up being assigned to most of my classes so I acted as a tour guide for him while his school was here. I could tell it kind of bothered Sev, Scorpius, and Harrison, but the girls seemed enthralled with him.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a reason to stop this homework. There are only so many words one can write about hemlock before your run out," I replied, dropping my quill and leaning back in my chair.

"Doesn't that paralyze the nervous system?" he asked, grinning at me.

I laughed and pinches the bridge of my nose, borderline hysterical. "That's probably something I should know to write this parchment. So far the only thing I have is its other names and effect on werewolves; I'm struggling through life."

"Do you want to speak about it?" he asked, relaxing back in his own chair and looking at me. "I've been told I'm a grand listener."

I toyed with the idea of telling him about Sev but thought it might be a bit much. He and I just became friends at the beginning of the month. Yet that made him the perfect person to tell, he was leaving after the Ball and didn't know Sev personally –only through me.

"I kind of thought I was in a relationship with Sev, but he still hasn't asked me to the Ball. All my other friends have dates, but I've been turning everyone down because I'm waiting for him," I said, pulling my legs up into my chair and tucking them under me. "I made a deal with myself before you came in: if he doesn't ask me by the end of the week, I'm going with the first person who does."

"If Sev doesn't ask you, I would be honored to take you to the Ball," he told me, smiling and making my palms sweat. "If that's what you want, of course."

I didn't have feelings for Danail other than friendship, but that was a really good offer. He was beyond attractive, a ton of girls probably already asked him.

"Hasn't every girl in Hogwarts asked you?" I asked.

"Not quite, but I've received numerous invitations by many girls and a few boys," he answered dismissively. "There's only one person I want to go with, the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Alas, her heart belongs to another."

I had my suspicions of Danail's feelings for me but hearing him admit them was a whole other thing. I felt my face turning red as I studied the script on my parchment.

"I'll keep that in mind, Danail," I finally said, putting my things in my back quickly. "It's time for dinner and I'm starving. I'll see you around, yeah?"

I rushed out of the library and down to the Great Hall. I took a breath and straightened my robes before I walked in because the last thing I needed was a citation for an improper uniform. I made my way over to the Slytherin table and sat down between Sev and Harrison.

"You're late for dinner, that never happens," Sev said, glancing over at me with his mouth full of roast.

I shrugged my shoulders before sitting my bag between my feet and loading my plate. "I was doing homework with Danail and lost track of time. I'm sorry."

All three of them stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I pursed my lips at them before pouring pumpkin juice into my goblet. I didn't reply, I just ate my food and acted like I didn't feel their eyes on me. My feelings were still a little hurt because Sev hadn't asked me to the Ball.

"Oh, working on the parchment for Potions?" Harrison finally asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

I wiped my mouth to make them wait a little bit longer. "Yeah, hemlock is driving me insane. There's still so much parchment left and he was helping me fill it."

"I'm sure that's not the only thing he wants to help you fill," Scorpius remarked as he reached for more potatoes. "But that's not my business."

I gasped and hit his shoulder. "That's not true! He's just helping me with my parchment because that's what friends do. I help Harrison with Runes and we're not shagging each other."

"Oh, I could've helped. I'm already finished with mine," Sev said, picking at his food with his fork.

I put my hand on his leg and turned my body to face him. "I didn't ask him for help, I was just in the library and he found me. If it's that big of a deal, we can work on them together."

"Adalyn, do you have a date to the Ball?" Quinn asked, making all four of us turn around. "I didn't see you shopping with your mates for dresses, so I'm assuming not. Do you want to go with me?"

"Uh, the girls haven't gone dress shopping yet," I replied, pushing my hair over my shoulder and raising my brows. "Try again."

His face paled and he nervously ran a hand through his hair before his cool came back. "Will you go to the Ball with me?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not interested," I replied, smiling before turning back to my food.

Dinner was awkward after that, no one really knew what to say. I figured Quinn would've made Sev ask me to the Ball, but he was oddly silent. By the time we were dismissed, I was about to explode. I needed to talk to the girls and I needed to talk to them quick.

I kissed Sev's cheek and said goodbye to the others before rushing over to the Gryffindor table. I grabbed Roxy's arm and followed them up to Rose's room.

"Sev hasn't asked me to the Ball yet and it's next week," I said, flopping backwards onto her bed. "I've mentally given him until the end of the week before I accept Danail's invitation."

"Wait, slow this train down. Who's Danail?" Rose asked, holding up her hands.

"He's from Durmstrang, we've became friends recently. He asked me earlier in the library after I told him my plan," I explained.

"Stop being a wimp and ask Sev," Rosy said like it was the easiest thing in the world. "You always bitch about equality between the genders, go make things equal."

The thought never crossed my mind and I couldn't believe it. Roxy was a genius; why couldn't I just ask him to the Ball? I steeled myself and stood up, shrugging off my robes and fluffing my hair. I checked my makeup in the mirror before making my way down to the dungeons.

I rounded a corner and saw Sev talking with a dark haired girl. I'm not a jealous person by nature, so I just figured I'd wait until they were finished to make my appearance. I was leaning against the stone wall when I actually heard the girl's voice: it was Arden.

"Do you want to go to the Ball with me, Sev?" she asked, twisting her hair around her finger. "I heard Adalyn say she was going with that Durmstrang guy earlier and figured I'd help you out."

My stomach dropped to my feet, that damn girl had no idea when to quit. Sev wasn't interested in her at all, he was interested in me. I was about to make my grand entrance when I heard his answer.

"I guess, if she's going with him I don't have any other options," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "We're going to the Ball together."

I felt like someone grabbed my heart and squeezed it until it exploded. My eyes overflowed quickly and I couldn't stop the tears that coursed down my face. This was why I never gave my heart to anyone, this was why I never let anyone get close to me. Heartbreak sucked.

I ran back to Rose's room, knocking on the door repeatedly until Roxy pulled it open. I was sobbing when I said, "He's going –to the Ball –with Arden!"

"Excuse me? Albus Severus is doing what with who?" Rose asked, immediately going into mother hen mode. "That bitch needs to learn to keep her distance before I hex her into oblivion."

I didn't say anything, I just laid on her bed with my head in Alice's lap. She stopped writing her letter to James and ran her fingers through my hair. I felt someone come up behind me and another move in front of me, comforting me, but I couldn't see who.

* * *

We all spent the night in Rose's room and skipped our classes the next day. Imagine my surprise when they led me to a secret tunnel that opened up into Honeyduke's basement. I loved being friends with Hermione and Ron Weasley's daughter.

"So I looked up Danail and he's gorgeous. You've got to go to the Ball with him," Roxy said when we were back in the Three Broomsticks with a ton of candy and Butterbeer. "He'll drive Sev mad with jealousy."

"I suppose, I've also contemplated just going home for the holidays. I don't really want to watch him with Arden," I replied, sipping from my mug and shoving a chocolate frog into my mouth.

"No way! You've got to come to the Ball, we're all going!" Alice shrieked, grabbing my hand and almost making me choke. "We're going to get you the perfect gown right now. Let's go!"

We all joined hands and Apparated to muggle town. All the good dresses in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley would already be gone so Rose thought on her feet. Shopping with them was exactly what I needed to forget about what all was going wrong with my life. Retail therapy was the best kind of therapy in the universe.

I fell in love with my dress, it was strapless and red. I didn't want too much to happen with it, I liked the simplistic look when it came to dressing formally. By the time we got back to Hogwarts, I was kind of excited to ask Danail to go with me.

I found him in the library and sat down at his table. "Hey stranger, what's up?"

"You look troubled, what's wrong?" he asked instead of answering my question.

I twisted my fingers together under the table and tried to find the right words. "Sev's going to the Ball with Arden."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" he said, immediately taking my hands in his and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles soothingly. "Who's Arden?"

I giggled before telling him the story of Arden. I talked about her being Sev's girlfriend and hating me, then about her outing me as Veela, and finally the way she asked him to be her date. He listened and asked questions where they were needed, making me smile at his sweetness. I wish I cared about him like I cared about Sev, things would be so much easier.

"I understand why you're so upset now, Adalyn. I'm sorry me asking you to the Ball messed things up for you," he apologized, kissing my hand. "That was not my intention."

"No, it was my own fault. I should've just asked him to go with me the Ball instead of waiting for him," I replied, my eyes burning.

"My invitation still stands. I would be honored to escort you," he smiled, making me smile in return.

"I think it'll be fun," I said. "I'm going to be pretty hot, just prepare yourself."

"You're already beautiful, I'm excited to see how if you can be more so," he said, releasing my hands. "This is wonderful, but I'm in the middle of a very interesting book about wand cores."

"As riveting as that sounds, I really need to go finish my parchment. I'm pretty sure I knew what to add to get the length," I said, standing up and grabbing my bag. "Thank you for being such a brilliant friend, I really appreciate it."

He waved me off, but I saw his cheeks turning pink. Awe, that was sweet!

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**Yes, thanks for reading. The Ball is the next chapter xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Cute and cliche because sometimes that's cute :)**

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"Bloody hell, your wand is hot!" Roxy exclaimed, dropping my wand back to the scattered desk top. "Give a girl a warning next time."

"You saw me using it to curl my hair a second ago, numpty," I exclaimed, lining my lips before applying my lipstick. "I swear, you're unobservant."

The day of the Ball finally arrived and we were all getting ready together. I did all of our hair before starting on my makeup, but Roxy still forgot my wand was hot. These girls were goofy, but they were my best mates and I was thankful for them.

I was going with Danail tonight, Roxy was going with a Ravenclaw Beater, Rose was going with another Gryffindor, and Alice was going with James. I'm sure the guys were getting ready together as well, but I wasn't sure who all their dates were. I obviously knew Sev's, but Scorp's and Harrison's were a total mystery.

"What are you going to do with Sev's Christmas gift?" Rose asked, smudging her eyeliner.

My mum had a connection to the Chudley Cannons, Sev's favorite Quidditch team. I got him a signed Kristoff Briggs jersey, his favorite player. The signature was enchanted to never fade no matter how many times the jersey was washed. I spent a lot of time learning the charm and perfecting it, but it was pointless to have now. I don't even think we were at the level to have such intricate gifts for each other.

"I haven't decided quite yet," I replied, putting in my earrings and avoiding delving too deeply. "Probably donate it or something. Hell, I might even give it to him. I don't know."

We were all meeting our dates in different parts of the castle so we parted ways after final makeup checks. Danail and I were meeting on the staircase by the Great Hall so that's where I headed. Everyone I passed looked amazing in their dressing robes and gowns. The lot of Hogwarts really cleaned up well.

Thankfully the Durmstrang boys didn't have to wear their uniforms, they were terrible with the matted fur and horrid red color. Danail was waiting at the beginning of the stairs in a black robes, the only color on him was the red tie and his cheeks when he saw me. I knew I should've been more excited that he reacted like that when I walked in, but I couldn't help but wish he was Sev.

"You look magnificent!" he breathed once I met him and he kissed my cheek. "I'm the luckiest boy in all of the world tonight."

"You're one to talk," I replied, kissing his cheek in response and trying to sound as sincere as possible. "Thank you for escorting me tonight, I really appreciate you."

"It is nothing, Adalyn," he smiled before offering me his arm. "I believe it is time for us to make our entrance."

I placed my hand in the bend of his elbow and was happy to see that we were the same height with my heels. Despite that, another twinge sounded in my stomach; Sev still would've been taller than me. No, I needed to stop that. He didn't want to go with me to the Ball and Danail did, I should be happy.

I hardly recognized the Great Hall, it was decorated so beautifully. There were wreaths with all of the schools' colors wound together to represent unity. The tea lights that were floating around gave it an ethereal glow that softened the angular room.

"The professors really outdid themselves," I whispered, taking in the beautiful room.

I looked around at people and saw Sev and Arden were already in the Hall. That bitch had a red dress on! Of course she had to wear the same color as me with my date! The girl didn't have a unique bone in her body; she was too busy trying to be me.

When my eyes left her, they landed on Sev. He had the expression I wanted, complete awe and a little bit of hunger. I wanted to go over to him and be wrapped in his arms all night, but I couldn't do that to Danail. Plus he was here with another girl, that should turn me off to him forever.

"He's stupid, you know? She looks so boring compared to you," Danail whispered as he escorted me to an empty table. "She's a flickering flame and you're a blazing wildfire, love."

Warmth blossomed in my stomach from his words. "Thank you for being amazing!"

"You two look gorgeous together," Roxy announced when she sat across from us with her date. "This is Reese."

"Hi, I'm Adalyn. This is my date, Danail," I introduced. "It's nice to meet you, Reese. You both look lovely."

Rose made her entrance with her date before parting ways and hurrying over to the table. "He's already tried to get his hand under my skirts and the bloody Ball hasn't even started yet!"

"Rose, this is Danail and Reese," I said, trying to not burst into laughter. "I'm assuming you're date is going to be MIA for the Ball."

"I guess so," she said distractedly.

"If it's okay with Adalyn, I would love to be your dance partner tonight," Danail said, meeting my eyes with a questioning gaze.

"Of course I'll share my date with you, Rose. I would love that," I said, squeezing her hand over the table. "It'll be us three."

"I'm about to make Crystal's voicebox explode," Scorpius said, flopping into the chair beside mine. "She's said more words in the last five minutes than I've ever said in my life."

"He's being dramatic, she's only said 1,000,035 words," Harrison quipped, taking the final empty seat and draining his glass. "On the plus side, James spike the punch and I'm getting drunk."

"Danail, these are our other friends Harrison and Scorpius," Rose said, rolling her eyes at the two of them. "You've got to do at least one sober dance before you black out."

Harrison held out his hand to Rose, "Then come with me, Rosie."

She rolled her eyes but took his hand and followed him to the floor. I stood and offered Danail my hand, taking us both out to the dance floor. I tried to avoid looking at Sev and Arden; it was surprisingly easy with all the others around me making me laugh.

Throughout the night we ended up switching dance partners and moving around the floor. All of us girls lost our heels a few songs in because of our sore feet. They may look good, but they hurt like a bitch. Alice cast a charm so our feet would stay clean and not hurt when they got stepped on before being spun back onto the floor with James.

Danail was dancing with Rose and they seemed to really be hitting it off. I was sitting with Scorpius and Harrison, sipping on my Firewhisky and punch. We were talking about the holiday and what we got for other people. The idiots even let it slip that they'd gone together and got me a box of chocolate frogs with crème centers because they were my favorites.

"You guys are dumb, but I'm really glad I have you in my life," I smiled, hugging both of their necks.

Someone cleared their throat behind me and I turned to see Sev standing there. I'd lost sight of him sometime through the night, the last I saw he was sitting with Arden and her friends. His tie was loosened and his hair was a mess, but he looked better than every guy in here.

"Can we take a walk?" he asked in a small voice.

"Tell Danail I'll be back later," I told the guys even though I knew they were too drunk to remember.

I slipped my heels back on and followed Sev out of the Hall. We made our way to the astronomy tower and stopped, sitting on the stairs. It was freezing out but too beautiful to go inside. Snow covered everything and stars were brighter than I've ever seen them.

"It's so beautiful here in the winter," I replied, crossing my arms as the cold started to sink into my bones. "I can't believe this is our last winter at Hogwarts."

"I don't know why we're fighting with each other, but I'm sorry for whatever I did," he said from his spot beside me.

"You didn't ask me to the Ball," I said quietly, playing with the bracelet on my wrist instead of looking at him. "Every other boy at Hogwarts did, but you."

"I thought we were already going together," he told me, taking my hands in his and stilling their nervous movements.

I shivered fiercely before I could reply and he saw it. I saw him mutter under his breath before taking off his robe and wrapping it around both of us. This boy was way too talented at charms to be fair. The robes could comfortably wrap around the two of us, albeit a little closer than was needed but whatever.

"I thought you were my girlfriend, but I guess I was wrong," he continued, rubbing his knee nervously. "I'm sorry if I was wrong."

"No, I'm just not really sure what's going on with us. I really care about you, I've just never had a boyfriend before," I said, laying all my cards on the table. "I'm still learning what to do."

"Hey, I've got your Christmas present in my pocket somewhere," he said, patting his side and coming up empty. "I guess it's in yours. Can you look?"

I dug my hand into his pocket and jumped when flowers popped out. They were material and fuzzy, kind of like the kind you see in muggle joke shops. When I looked over at him, he was waggling his eyebrows and smiling.

"Are you impressed with me now?" he asked, hitting me with his shoulder playfully.

"Did you just use muggle magic to impress me?" I asked, looking at him in awe. "That's the sweetest thing!"

"That's not even your present, dork," he replied, kissing the side of my head. "Dig deeper in that pocket, it's in there somewhere."

"Hang on, did you really learn muggle magic tricks for me?" I asked, not letting the topic slide just yet.

"Yes!" he grumbled, looking at his feet instead of me. "I wanted to do something I know no one ever did for you, something that would make you smile."

I grabbed his face and pressed our lips together, my smile pressed against his smile. This was what happiness felt like, warmth and butterflies duking it out in my stomach. I didn't even need a Christmas present to be happy with Sev, I just wanted things to be like this forever.

"I can't wait to see what I get when you get your actual present," he replied breathily when we pulled away from each other. "God, you're brilliant."

I shoved my hand back into the pocket and felt my fingers brush over something smooth. I took the lid off of it and saw a heart. It was silver and on a chain, but it was actually anatomically correct. When I placed my fingers over the charm, it felt like it was almost beating like a real heart.

"You've had my heart since last year, I just thought I should make it official," he said, brushing some hair out of my face. "It's charmed to beat in time with mine and heat up when I'm close to you."

I couldn't find the words to say that would describe how I felt. This gift was beyond anything I ever expected to receive in my lifetime. I couldn't stop brushing my fingers over the warm silver, my eyebrows raising when it started to beat faster.

"It's amazing, Sev," I finally breathed out. "My gift is nothing compared to this one, oh Merlin."

He took the box from me and moved to sit behind me. I lifted my hair up so he could put it on me, my entire body thrumming with electricity. He clasped the necklace into place and kissed the back of my neck lovingly. I dropped my hair back into place and turned so we were looking at each other.

We stayed like that until the cold started to seep into his robes. He grabbed my hand and we ran back to the Great Hall, seeing that most of the people were gone for the night. There was still music playing softly in the background and a few couples still moving together.

"Dance with me?" Sev asked, laying his robes on a random table and holding his hand out to me.

I let him lead me back to the floor and pull me close. There was no space between our bodies as we swayed on the floor. It was like we were in our own little world, no one else even mattered.

By the time the night was over, I was completely in love with Albus Severus Potter.

* * *

**As always, there's a link to their outfits on my profile! Thanks for reading, my loves. **


	10. Chapter 10

**This is the last chapter! Thank you so much for supporting me and loving this story, it means so much!**

**Without further ado, the last chapter. **

* * *

After the Ball, I made Sev wait downstairs while I went to get his present. I also changed into my pajamas before hurrying back down to him. He had shed his robes and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows with his bowtie untied. I was way too attracted to him for it to be healthy.

"Hey," I said, announcing my presence to him.

He turned to look at me and I saw his face soften. "Hi, beautiful."

The warmth was back in my stomach and I never wanted it to leave. He was leaning back against the arm of the couch and I made my way over to him. I sat the gift bag down before wrapping my arms around his neck. He held my waist and bent down so he could kiss me.

I felt an unfamiliar vibration against my chest and realized it was the necklace. His heart was racing because he was kissing me. I had a heady, self-impressed feeling when I pulled away. Sev was always so calm and collected, I was happy I had a way to tell that I made him nervous.

"Happy Christmas, Sev," I whispered, handing him the bag and taking a small step back.

His heart didn't slow as he pulled out the tissue paper. When he saw the jersey, his entire face lit up and he tore it out of the bag. His eyes slid down and his jaw slackened when he saw the autograph on the bottom corner. He was speechless for a couple minutes, words seeming to fail him. The only reassuring thing was how harshly his heart was beating against my sternum.

"Is this real?" he finally breathed out, not taking his eyes from the scribbled signature on the orange fabric.

"Of course," I laughed, brushing a couple wayward curls out of his face. "It's also enhanced with a charm so you can wear it and wash it, but the autograph won't fade nor will the colors."

"I have no words. This is amazing, Lyn," he said, his eyes finally looking up to mine. "You listened to me blather on about them, but I never thought you'd actually remember. I know how much you hate Quidditch."

"Yeah, but I don't hate you," I replied, trailing my fingers over his cheekbone. "So my present's as good as yours then?"

He placed the jersey back in the bag on the ground before sitting down and pulling me onto his lap. "It's the second most amazing thing I've ever gotten. The first is you."

I usually hated it when guys were cheesy, but Sev made my insides quiver when he did it. I draped my arms over his shoulders and tossed my head to the side before slotting our mouths together again. His hands cautiously slid under my t-shirt and held the bare skin of my waist but ventured no farther.

His lips journeyed to my neck when I pulled away to catch my breath. He was being gentle and sweet, barely ghosting over my skin. I arched my back to get closer and felt his tongue slid over my pulse point. An embarrassing noise came out of my mouth and made face heat up, but Sev didn't seem hampered by it.

"Merlin, you're perfect," he gasped out, his eyes wild when they met mine and his grip tight on my hips. "But we have to stop, I'm not pushing you."

I laughed breathily and leaned my forehead against his. "You're perfect."

He echoed my laugh before stretching out on the couch and pulling me close to him. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was him pressing a kiss to my forehead.

* * *

The next morning, I fell out of my bed when I stretched. I groaned and rubbed my hip because it received the brunt of the blow. I heard rough laughed and forced my eyes open to see Sev looking down at me with sleepy eyes.

"What the hell?" I asked, sitting up and glaring at him. "It's not funny, I hurt my hip."

His lips turned up into a smirk and he said, "Bring it up here and I'll kiss it."

I knew he was joking, he never thought I'd do that. That made my temper flare because it felt like he was making fun of me. I stood up and lifted my shirt, lowering my pants a bit to show him my red hip. I looked at him with raised brows and waited.

"Well, are you going to kiss it better, Albie?" I asked, batting my lashes at him demurely.

His face was beyond shocked, turning pink and making the heart almost bounce off my chest. He was nervous and it was a definite change of pace. I felt like he always made me feel nervous when it came to things like this, it was nice to turn the tables.

He held my side and pulled me close, rubbing his thumb over the red spot before pressing his lips to it. My entire body caught on fire and my knees turned to complete jelly. He pulled away and slipped my pants back up into place. I dropped my shirt into place and kissed the side of his head before skipping upstairs to the girls' dorms.

When I got up for the final time, it was a little past eleven. I was just in time for lunch and my stomach was growling like crazy. I got dressed and did my makeup before venturing out into the world. The common room only had a few third years playing Exploding Snaps. I walked past them and down to the Great Hall, my mouth watering at the buffet of lunch spread out.

I saw Sev sitting with Scorpius and Harrison and quickly made my way over. I slid into the seat beside his and kissed his cheek before loading my plate. He placed his free hand on my knee under the table as the other looked at me through heavy eyes.

"You twats got drunk last night, didn't you?" I laughed, shoveling roasted potatoes into my mouth.

"Yes, and Rose hasn't been seen to give us the hangover remedy," Scorpius groaned, sipping on his pumpkin juice timidly. "I think this is the worst hangover I've ever had."

"No, the one after Halloween last year was worse. You literally couldn't move for puking everywhere," Sev argued, laughing at his friend's pain. "You thought you had alcohol poisoning, remember?"

Scorpius' face had a green tinge earlier, but it was flaming red now. "Don't remind me, I never want to get _that_ drunk again. I can't remember what even happened."

Harrison huffed and rolled his eyes. "We fucked, but it's cool you don't remember it. I'm just a shag to you that you have to keep a secret anyway."

I froze with my fork halfway to my mouth and felt the Sev's grip on my knee tighten. I couldn't look at him in fear of ruining the moment, but I knew his face matched mine: a mask of complete surprise. I thought Harrison was just having sex with Scorp to have sex, I never in a million years thought he genuinely had feelings for him.

Scorpius looked over at Harrison with big eyes. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"I'm tired of being your dirty secret because daddy will cut you off if he finds out," Harrison sneered, pushing up from the table. "I'm done being drug around for nothing; either you tell him or whatever we are is finished."

Harrison stormed out of the Great Hall, but no one seemed to notice but Sev and me. Thankfully, I lowered my fork earlier so I didn't look like a total idiot. Sev's grip loosened a bit, but I could still feel the tension in his body.

"What the hell just happened? He acted like a total bird," Scorpius said, breaking the awkward silence.

"It sounded kind of like he has real feelings for you," I answered, ignoring his condemning remark. Then it got the better of me and I said, "Girls aren't birds either."

"Sorry, I was a bit too distracted to worry about proper gender names," he hissed, making me flinch. "I didn't mean to snap. I'm just confused."

Scorpius just looked dejectedly out the window and it made me smile. "So it doesn't matter who the person is, boys still don't get it. You're supposed to chase them if they run away like that, he cares about you. Even if you don't care about him like that, he's still your friend and he deserves an explanation."

He mumbled colorfully under his breath before getting up and stalking after Harrison. A grin tugged at my lips, he was so typically boyish it made me happy. I turned my attention back to my food and continued eating in silence with Sev, his hand still resting on my leg.

"I'm not Slytherin, but I'm sitting at this table because I have major news," Roxy announced, flopping down into Scorp's vacant spot. "Guess where Rose Weasley is right now?"

"Probably in her room or the library," I replied, drinking my juice and leaning against Sev.

"She's in her room, but she's not alone in there," Roxy sang, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. "She left with Danail last night and I didn't see her this morning. I went to check and saw the two of them in her bed sans dress robes."

I raised my eyebrows and bolted away from Sev in favor of gossip. "No way! Rose slept with Danail last night?"

"I don't know, but I do know they were naked in her bed this morning," she replied with a shrug. Then she said, "Alice went home with James to shag on every flat surface they come across."

"Well, good for them," Sev said awkwardly.

After lunch, Sev kissed my head before parting ways with me. I figured he'd go check on Scorp and Harrison, but I wasn't really sure. I went with Roxy to crash Rose's party because that's what best mates do. We banged on her bedroom door after Harold Vincent, the other head, let us in the room.

Rose answered with a big t-shirt and messy hair. When she saw it was us, her face turned scared and she tried to block our view into her room. I heard shuffling further inside and had to bit my cheek to stop myself from smiling. I saw the way she and Danail looked at each other last night, I was happy he found someone that appreciated him the way he deserved.

""Did you bring someone home last night, Miss Weasley? I'm scandalized!" Roxy exclaimed, covering her heart dramatically.

"I didn't want you to find out like this, Adalyn. I was going to tell you," she said, chewing her lip anxiously. "I know he was your date, I don't want you to think I stole him or anything."

"We're just friends, I have a boyfriend," I smiled, twisting the heart around my neck happily. "If you guys are together, I'm happy for the two of you."

The weight seemingly lifted off her shoulders and she stood straight. We all made plans to meet up at the Three Broomsticks later for cookies and butterbeer before parting ways. I went down to the dungeons and saw the guys all sitting on the couch. The backs of their heads were easy to distinguish: black, blonde, and brunette all in a line.

I came around the couch and perched on the little table in front of it. "Hey, do you want to meet up with the girls and me later at the Three Broomsticks? We're going to get cookies and butterbeer and exchange gifts."

"That sounds fun," Sev said, pulling me off the table and onto his lap. "The guys have something to tell you."

Scorpius took a deep breath before taking Harrison's hand in his and announcing, "This is Harrison, my boyfriend."

"So are you openly together? Like, you're going to tell your families?" I asked, excitement bubbling up in my stomach for them. When they both nodded, I exploded, "Oh my goodness! I am so happy for you guys!"

* * *

We were all gathered in our regular booth in the Three Broomsticks. My fingers still felt numb from the freezing cold outside, but I was quickly filling with warmth now. I was smushed between Sev and Scorp with Harrison on his other side. They came out to the group and got only support and happiness in return.

Alice and James even showed up to the gift giveaway, beaming and dying to tell us the news. Instead of actually telling us, Alice just made sure to use her left hand for everything imaginable. Her engagement ring was spectacular, but her smile was even better.

"That'll be us one day," Sev whispered to me, the pendant beating quickly and warming my chest. "Plan on it, Lyn."

So I went from having no friends and no social skills, to having an amazing group of friends and mediocre social skills. I never imagined that was how my seventh year was going to go and it was only December. I was very excited to see how my life was going to go from now on with my best friends by my side.

* * *

**Corny ending, but I'm very happy with it. I hope you are, too. **


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